Ever wonder why some food brands seem to blow up on Amazon or Instacart while others burn through their ad budget with nothing to show for it? In this episode, I sit down with Mat Drela, CEO and founder of Retail Media IQ, who has spent 17 years mastering performance marketing across thousands of campaigns.

We dig into the world of retail media the ads you see on Instacart, Amazon, and your favorite grocery apps and what CPG founders actually need to know before they spend a single dollar. If you're building a food brand and you're curious about how to turn digital shelf space into real sales, this one is for you.

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Becca Wright, founder of Piedmont Pennies, joins the show to share how a grandmother’s cheese cracker recipe became a Southern specialty brand sold in 450+ stores across 47 states. She breaks down why specialty retail is the smartest launchpad for new food brands, how demoing reveals truths your spreadsheet never will, and the mindset shift that keeps founders steady through the highs and lows.

We also dig into the North Carolina food ecosystem, Eastern vs. Western barbecue, and what “community over competition” really looks like in CPG. A masterclass in scrappy, intentional brand building from the heart of the Carolinas.

Promo Code

Use code FOODROCKS20 for 20% off at PiedmontPennies.com

Key Links for Show Notes

•   Piedmont Pennies website: piedmontpennies.com

•   Social: @PiedmontPennies (Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook)

•   NC IDEA grant program

•   NC State Food Lab

•   Startup CPG community

•   Weaver Street Market (Raleigh/Carrboro/Hillsborough/Southern Village)

•   Reed’s Fine Foods (Charlotte)

•   Fresh Market, Lowe’s Foods (NC local sections)

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What does it really take to understand the numbers behind your CPG brand? This week, Adam sits down with Abby June Richards, founder and fractional CFO of The CPG CFO, to demystify the financial side of the consumer packaged goods world. Abby shares how she went from 20+ years in public accounting to building a thriving fractional CFO practice serving emerging CPG founders and why she'll never go back to traditional accounting.

In this episode, you'll learn the difference between finance and accounting, why most financial models sit unused on a shelf, and how the simple 4:1 cost-to-retail ratio can be a cheat code for pricing your product. Abby breaks down why retention is one of the most powerful (and overlooked) levers in your business, why raising prices is often the bravest and smartest move a founder can make, and how collaboration between finance, sales, and operations is where the magic really happens. She also shares the now-famous Lupini pizza story — where an accidental $25 price tag still moved units and proved that special brands can charge what they're worth.

Whether you're pre-revenue, scaling into retail, or just trying to figure out if your business actually has margin, this conversation will give you the clarity (and courage) to look at your numbers with new eyes. Because as Abby says: if you don't have margin, you don't have a business.

Find Abby:

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Dr. Job Ubbink is a professor and the head of the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, with a career spanning Givaudan, Nestlé, his own consultancy, and Cal Poly before landing in the Twin Cities.

In this episode, we trace his unconventional path from chemistry and a Michelin-starred restaurant kitchen in the Netherlands to global R&D leadership and academia. Job shares his vision for food science as a broader, people-centered discipline, one that integrates physical chemistry, community, culture, and the realities of small artisanal producers.

We also get into industry-academia collaboration, the ultra-processed foods debate, and what young food scientists need to do to become decision-makers, not just technical resources.

LinkedIn account under: linkedin.com/in/job-ubbink-11204b7 and lab website at: ubbinklab.cfans.umn.edu

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Grace Uvezian is VP of Marketing at Appetronix, the company building fully autonomous robotic kitchens deployed in airports, universities, and stadiums including a live location at Columbus International Airport.

In this episode, we go deep on how Grace uses Claude, MCPs, and AI automation to run her marketing function, including how she generated $5M in PR value at Spice using Zapier, the exact way she structures prompts with voice tools like Whisper Flow, and her philosophy on getting comfortable giving AI access to your data.

Whether you're AI-curious or AI-skeptical, Grace breaks down what these tools can and cannot do in practical, food-tech-relevant terms. A must-listen for anyone in CPG or food service trying to figure out where AI actually fits into their workflow.

Find Grace:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-uvezian/
Substack: https://substack.com/@graceu   

My episode about AI: https://wolfingdownfoodscience.buzzsprout.com/1609819/episodes/19070967-are-you-an-apocaloptimist-review-of-the-ai-doc-with-adam-yee

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Tenley Fitzgerald, VP of Marketing & Brand Strategy at Yes! Apples®, joins the show to talk about turning a 100-year-old apple operation into a consumer-facing brand. From launching FreshDirect's social media to partnering with Bob's Burgers at Blue Apron, Tenley shares how brand collaborations unlock new audiences and why the apple category is ripe for disruption.

We dig into the challenges of branding a commodity in a private-label world, using D2C data to make smarter marketing decisions, and what it takes to build something from the ground up with sheer force of will.

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Ori Zohar, co-founder of Burlap & Barrel, returns to discuss how his 10-year-old bootstrapped spice company is taking the U.S. government to court over tariffs they believe are illegal.

Ori shares the real financial impact tariffs have on small food businesses, why big food companies stay silent, and how Burlap & Barrel is channeling brand activism to fight for smallholder farmers worldwide. They also dive into the bootstrapping vs. venture capital debate and why small businesses are the true backbone of the American food economy

Find out more: www.burlapandbarrel.com or on Instagram at @burlapandbarrel

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Adam Heiner, CEO and cofounder of Pacha, a sprouted buckwheat brand, shares his journey from the mortgage industry to founding the first hard kombucha brand (Boochcraft) and now running a sprouted buckwheat bakery with just two ingredients. We dive into contract farming with regenerative farmers, the hard lessons of scaling a beverage startup, and how to build an assembly-line mindset on the production floor. Adam also opens up about living in an intentional community and why integrating your values into your work is the only way he knows how to do it.

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Adam Yee has a new podcast! Introducing R&D Radio, a segment where he interviews food scientists and how they help food brands on the Startup CPG podcast.

In this episode, we'll be sharing two episodes: one with Danile Scharff interviewing Adam and Adam interviewing Rachel Zemser along with some insights on podcasting in general.

Expect two podcast episodes every month and a newsletter. There's also a ton of content that Startup CPG supplies to young food brands. It's the best.

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In this episode, Adam Yee interviews Jess Haghani, the founder and CEO of Lucille, a pioneering nutrition company dedicated to the often-overlooked senior demographic. Haghani shares how her grandmother’s health struggles inspired her to disrupt the clinical, "shameful" legacy shake market with an aspirational brand and a superior, clean-label product.

The conversation dives deep into the technical side of food science, discussing how Haghani collaborated with Harvard nutritionists to develop a lactose-free, nutrient-dense formula featuring ingredients like avocado oil and agave.

Finally, Haghani explores the unique business challenges of the "silver economy," from designing senior-friendly packaging to navigating a go-to-market strategy that targets primary caregivers

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