Startup To Scale

 Sean Hall is the founder of Wellious, a line of almond protein powders. I was impressed at the scappy DIY nature that Sean built the brand and became an Amazon Best Seller for his category. Join me as I talk with Sean to uncover how he’s building a successful brand on Amazon with incredibly high repeat rates, and how he leverages TikTok to drive traffic to his e-commerce store.  Startup to Scale...

Chris Cuvelier founded Zola in 2002 and led the business as CEO for 17 years until 2019. Originally started as an Acai Juice business, he added coconut water 10 years later and eventually dropped the Acai Juice to focus on the Coconut Water. Chris had a goal to build Zola to be a $100 million business and sold the company to a private equity firm in 2016 while staying on a CEO. Join me as we unloc...

Today I want to talk about how to manage your grocery business as your number of retailers and doors grow. I’ve found that once you surpass about 500 stores it becomes really challenging to understand what’s happening at each one. Some of the key data you need to measure and track are your velocity by SKU and retailer, Flagging spoiling product and out of stocks, tracking distributor charge backs....

On today’s episode I want to address some areas that CPG founders are concerned with according to last month’s state of the CPG industry Report I released. For this conversation I’ve invited on Brad Ebenhoeh, founder of Accountfully to provide actionable guidance from a finance perspective. We discuss reaching profitability, selling across multiple sales channels, and how to manage retail sales. S...

Join me as I talk with Louis Condon from Pear Commerce about the e-commerce strategies of Liquid Death, Olipop, and Reishi Tea. We also dive into Retail E-commerce, a new sub-channel of online sales that came around due to the pandemic. It’s comprised of retailers selling their groceries online for shipping, same-day delivery, and in-store pickup. Most brands in retail are underutilizing this sale...

When growing in retail, you have to “Play to win, don’t play not to lose.” This advice from Amber Bylund is the key to succeeding in retail, as it’s a challenging environment for any emerging brand. Amber Bylund is the VP of Sales Strategy at Siddhi. In this episode we discuss How brands should start in retail Building a retail launch strategy And more Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , a...

Marcus and Jenni are the co-founders of Modest Coffee and recently experienced the worst of what could happen when a distributor partnership goes bad. What started as a huge win for with a Walmart launch, ended with KeHE returning $250,000 worth of product and the company $200,000 in debt. Listen to learn what happened, their top lessons learned, and how the internet saved their business. Link to...

Have you tried running Google Ads and seen them as a complete waste of money? Let’s face it, running paid ads is challenging, especially for CPG brands. How do you know if you’re even ready for paid ads and what should you expect? Join me for a conversation with Andy Janaitis, founder of PPC Pitbulls as we break down: What it takes to be successful running Google Ads You minimal budget spend How t...

How can building your company in public help build your brand? I talk with Lex Evan, founder of Lexington Bakes about how he turned his passion for baking into a Luxury Baked Goods Business. He’s sharing every step of the journey on Linkedin and his newsletter so you can see behind the scenes. Doing so has brought in new partnerships, retailers, and customers. Lex also sees it as a way to give bac...

Foodservice is an amazing channel for food and beverage products, but can be incredibly challenging to break into. I sit down with my friend Matt Cotton, founder of Rooted Food Sales, who helps CPG brands sell into and succeed in Foodservice channels. We discuss: How to get into your first corporate office The difference between a distributor and an operator What are the job titles to reach out to...

Brands are more visible now than ever and consumers expect you to be visible everywhere - online, in store, on TikTok, and beyond. The strongest brands have a strong point of view, and that resonates in their storytelling and design. Join me as I talk with Mike McVicar, co-founder of Gander a Brand Design agency as we dive deep into how to create a meaningful brand. Startup to Scale is a podcast b...

“The best system is the one that gets used” I interview Jessi Freitag, Operations Freelancer and host of the Startup CPG podcast. In this episode, Jessi and I discuss the challenges and opportunities of scaling a startup, with a focus on the operational side of things. From co-manufacturer services and full commercialization to managing sales leads and ingredient suppliers, Jessi will provide prac...

You don’t know what you don’t know. Starting a business is filled with unknown problems, and it sometimes feels like you’re stumbling through mistake after mistake. But it doesn’t have to feel that way. Join me as I talk with Bill Skeens , founder of Prairie City Bakery, which successfully sold after 25 years. Bill has been through it all, and joins me to discuss the top 10 lessons he learned from...

What does it take to build a profitable business? I sit down with Kyle Koehler, Co-Founder of Wildway to find out. Wildway is now 10 years into their business and became profitable after their 5th year in business. I talk with Kyle about what it's like to run a company without raising capital, self-manufacturing, and growing using debt financing. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an...

Zach and Delisa Harper created Funky Mello, a line of plant-based marshmallow creams. Join me as Zach and I discuss their founding story, building a company with your spouse, and launching in Sprouts. 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 t...

This episode is going to be a little different from my standard podcast format. Today, I want to talk about how to optimize your life going into 2023 so that you can be the best version of yourself possible.  I’m excited because I’ve found the right Work + Life Flow that works for me and prioritizes everything I care about.  But it wasn’t always this way. As a CPG founder, I used to live every wee...

In this episode, I sit down with Monica Watrous, Managing editor of Food Business News and Editor of Food Entrepreneur to discuss food and beverage trends for 2023 . Get a front-row seat to the trends we're expecting and how you can prepare.  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...

Are you looking to breathe some life into your e-mail campaigns? I talk with Emilia from Kaleidocopy about her process for creating a personality-infused email flow, including the importance of researching your ideal customer and using great copywriting to build a relationship with them. Emilia and I partnered together to audit my GoodFoodBrands.com e-mail flows, and completely re-write two of the...

Welcome to Problem Solved, a Startup To Scale mini series co-hosted by myself, Jordan Buckner and Aaron Gailmor, founder of Brass Roots. In episode 2, Alex Bayer, founder of Genius Juice asks how life changes as an entrepreneur when you become a parent.  Aaron and I are both parents of young kids and share our perspectives as dads. We discuss: Having Kids can Make You a Better Founder Organization...

Retaining existing customers for longer is the highest ROI activity you can do as a CPG brand. Join me for a conversation with Dan Cohen, head of Marketing of Upscribe, an e-commerce subscription app. We'll discuss: A customer made their first purchase, now what? Getting customers to make the second purchase Building customer purchase habits How to convert customers to subscribers Reorders wi...

More and more brands are shifting to investing in retail growth over their e-commerce sites as consumer trends lean back to in-store purchases for CPG products. Now, this doesn’t mean you should cut off your digital marketing completely. In fact, it should be one of your most powerful tools in driving in store sales. On today’s show I’d like to welcome two guests to talk about this topic. Jessica...

Q1 is prime time for BFY brands, are you ready? People are coming out of the holidays looking for healthier habits and it’s the best time to attract new customers and loyalists to your brand. Join me for a conversation with Kevin Gawronski as share specific strategies and tips that you can leverage this time of the year. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an online community to connect em...

Running retail promotions for CPG brands is necessary to moving your product off the shelf, but many brands fear running promotions because they don’t know how to manage them. I’ve invited on Yuval Selik, the founder of Promomash to share insights on how brands can overcome the promotions challenge, and a new partnership that now allows brand to track in-store promotional performance. Now, brands...

Junita Flowers created her cookie company as a way to help herself and others heal from domestic violence, and is now selling in stores across the country, including Target. Join me for a conversation and learn why she created her company, her decision to self-manufacture with the pros and cons, and how she's planning to scale her enterprise.  Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an on...

Myles created a line of homestyle Mac & Cheese that mirrored the food he ate around the dinner table and bring those flavors to the larger community. Listen to his story from Civil Engineer to Food founder as we discuss the challenges and success along the journey. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an online community to connect emerging food, beverage, and CPG founders to great reso...