Landing a major retail account can change a brand overnight, but only if the operational foundation is ready to support it. Join Paul Verdu and Mitch Wedemeier from Octopi, a co-manufacturing partner backed by Asahi Group, to break down what really happens when brands scale into large national and club retailers.

You'll learn:

• Why landing a retailer like Costco or Target often creates a 90 to 180 day production sprint and what must happen within that window

• The critical documentation required including specs, certifications, and material data to enable a smooth transition between co manufacturers

• How differences in co-manufacturer equipment and capabilities impact product quality, timelines, and scalability

• Common surprises around packaging, lead times, and retailer requirements and how to plan for them early

• How to balance forecasting, inventory risk, and production flexibility to avoid stockouts amid unpredictable reorder cycles

Yuka is increasingly influencing what gets bought and what gets put back at shelf, with millions of consumers using it in real time while they shop. In this episode, we're joined by Gabriella Sebag-Weingrad, who leads Yuka's US business, to break down how it all works and what it means for food and beverage brands trying to stay competitive. For founders, understanding Yuka is no longer optional, it's a competitive advantage.

• How Yuka's scoring system actually works and which ingredients can instantly cap your score or drag it down
• The specific additives and formulation choices most likely to get your product put back at shelf
• What happens after a scan, including when consumers switch, trade up, or abandon products entirely
• How brands are reformulating in response and what they're removing without replacing
• Ways to improve your score without destroying margin, taste, or shelf life
• How to turn Yuka from a risk into a growth lever by positioning your product as the winning alternative

Growth is exciting, until your operations start pushing back.

Many founders try to solve this by working harder, producing more, or expanding faster. But the brands that actually scale learn a different lesson: at some point, you have to stop forcing it and start building systems that work with your business, not against it.

In this Nombase podcast, Dirty Gut founder Daniel Berlin sits down with Jesse Barruch, co-founder of Whims, to get some advice on how to navigate that shift without breaking your business.

Find out:

• How to know when you're forcing growth instead of building real scale

• How to schedule smaller production runs early to save you from costly mistakes later

• How to approach co-manufacturer selection and avoid the wrong partners

• What to track when you have little to no data and how to build useful systems over time

• How to think about inventory, forecasting, and demand planning in the early stages

• The operational problems that only reveal themselves as you grow

• How to decide what to handle yourself and what to outsource as a founder

• The tradeoffs between control, cost, and efficiency in your operations

• How to structure your time around high impact work that actually drives growth

• Why your vision for the business should guide every operational decision you make

After raising capital, most founders feel like they have finally unlocked the ability to grow. But what you do next can determine whether that capital creates momentum or quietly sets your business back.

In this episode, Day Out Snacks founder Becky Pleat sits down with Phil Trowler, former finance lead at Olipop, to discuss the specifics on how early stage CPG brands should actually think about deploying capital, building financial discipline, and preparing for what comes next.

You will learn:

• The most expensive mistake founders make right after raising capital

• Why expanding into more retail doors too early can hurt your business

• How to prioritize velocity over distribution when deploying capital

• What burn rate and contribution margin actually mean in practice

• The key financial metrics every founder should know weekly

• How to think about fundraising timing, milestones, and dilution

• What strong unit economics look like and how to improve them over time

• The difference between scaling your business and just getting bigger

• When to invest in people versus systems as your company grows

• How profitability changes your leverage in fundraising conversations

Make smarter decisions with your capital and avoid costly mistakes early!

Building a great product is not enough, especially in a category that actively works against you.

In this episode, Ayeshah Abuelhiga of Mason Dixie joins Hey!Hunger's Shireen Khera to talk about what it actually takes to win in one of the toughest environments in grocery. From getting customers to physically find your product to navigating low awareness, inconsistent merchandising, and long repurchase cycles, you'll see behind the scenes into the real work behind building a brand that sells:

• What it actually takes to get customers to find, try, and buy your product in a challenging category
• Why getting on shelf is only the beginning and how to actively drive demand through demos, local marketing, and constant presence
• Why early brands should prioritize velocity and depth over expanding into more doors and how to know when you are truly ready to grow
• How to think about distribution, brokers, and expansion so you don't outgrow your ability to support the business
• How to understand your customer in a way that drives decisions on ingredients, pricing, and margins
• How to win the long game of building a brand in a category with high costs and slow repurchase cycles

Whether you are in frozen or any competitive category, you'll learn what it really takes to turn early traction into real, lasting growth.

Expanding beyond the US is one of the biggest growth opportunities for CPG brands, and one of the easiest ways to get wrong.

In this episode, Ruth Fittock, managing partner of Tomorrow Brands, breaks down what it actually takes to launch successfully in the UK, a market worth billions in annual food and beverage sales. Drawing on experience with brands like Vitamin Water, PopChips, and Harmless Harvest, she shares what separates brands that scale from those that stall.

This conversation goes far beyond geography. It's a deep dive into assessing true product market fit, identifying category white space, and determining if your brand is actually ready to scale. It also covers how to pace retail expansion, build demand before distribution, navigate strict regulations, and adapt positioning for a more skeptical consumer. Whether or not global expansion is on your roadmap, you'll hear practical information to help build a brand that can win anywhere.

Expo West is a massive event, and it can take weeks to fully process what you saw and what it actually means. There is a lot of noise, but if you look closely, the real signals start to emerge and point to where the industry is headed next. In this episode, we sit down with Sherry Frey of NielsenIQ to make sense of it all through the lens of real consumer data. We break down what is really happening with protein and how consumers are thinking about it in their diets, why regenerative and transparent sourcing are gaining traction, which flavor trends are sticking, and how the ongoing GLP 1 conversation is reshaping product design around satiety and nutrient density.

In today's CPG landscape, profitability isn't always the first milestone founders should focus on. As capital markets and deal structures, investors and acquirers are often looking for something earlier in a brand's lifecycle: clear product market fit, strong velocity, and the potential to scale efficiently.

In this episode, Ryan Williams, founder of Northall and creator of the Fabid deal database shares what recent investment and acquisition activity reveals about how value is actually being built in food and beverage CPG. Together they explore why some brands attract premium valuations while others struggle to raise, how founders should think about capital efficiency, and what recent exits say about the paths companies take to reach a successful outcome.

Expo West 2026 is here and the BevNET and NOSH team is sharing what's at the top of their hit list. Managing editors Martín Caballero and Monica Watrous break down the biggest trends they expect to see on the show floor, from protein and fiber trends, to seed oil free formulations, regenerative ingredients, functional fatigue, GLP-1 friendly products, nostalgic flavors, and more. Can't wait to see you all at the show!!

What happens when three CPG investors decide to build a brand themselves?

Kiva Dickinson of Selva Ventures joins fellow cadootz! cofounders Jordan Carpenter and Rachel Mansfield, all seasoned CPG investors, with Rachel also bringing her perspective as a leading creator, to share how experienced industry insiders launch differently. They break down how they defined their non negotiables before formulation, modeled margins and profitability from day one, and avoided common pricing and channel strategy mistakes.

The cadootz! team also unpacks key decisions around manufacturing, reformulation for scale, retail sequencing, capital discipline, and building real demand through community before hitting shelves.