Shelf Help: The Tactical CPG Podcast

On this episode, we're joined by William Underwood, Founder of Talent Brew - the CPG-focused recruiting and headhunting firm helping scaling beverage and food brands find the right talent through competitive-set focused outreach.

William breaks down what the CPG talent market looks like right now. With post-COVID reorgs, acquisitions, and layoffs, brands have historic access to exceptional talent, but many don't know how to vet or retain it. 

We get into the roles trending up, from DTC and TikTok Shop managers to channel-specific account roles, and why AI fluency is becoming a must-have even though most CPG brands don't know exactly what that hire looks like yet.

We also dig into the hiring roadmap for scaling brands - who to hire first, and the common traps like chasing logos on resumes and inflating titles too early.

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Episode Highlights:

🍳 From executive chef to CPG recruiter (the origin story)
🍺 Launching a beer-focused firm during the worst market since Prohibition
📊 Why it's a historic buyer's market for CPG talent right now
🛒 Roles trending up: DTC, TikTok Shop, channel-specific managers
🤖 AI fluency as an emerging (but undefined) hiring requirement
💸 The real cost of a bad hire (financial, emotional, mental bandwidth)
🎯 Competitive set focused recruiting (50-100 companies, 3 referrals per placement)
⚠️ The trap of chasing logos and inflating titles too early
🔥 "Fire in their belly, throwing elbows, and polish"
🏢 Culture = what your employees do that you don't talk about
🧹 How to fix a struggling culture (and when to fire fast)
👀 Brands he's watching: Recess, Trip, Go Brewing, Throne Sport Coffee

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Table of Contents:

00:00 – Intro
00:44 – William's origin story (from executive chef to recruiting)
02:55 – Expanding from craft beer to broader CPG
03:50 – The current CPG talent market (buyer's market)
05:30 – Roles trending up right now
07:00 – TikTok Shop and ecom hiring challenges
08:31 – AI fluency in CPG hiring
10:22 – The real cost of a bad hire
11:45 – Smart hiring roadmap for scaling brands
14:00 – Common founder hiring mistakes (logos and titles)
15:55 – Generalist vs. specialist (and leveraging agencies)
17:00 – Competitive set focused recruiting explained
19:55 – Red flags when evaluating a recruiting firm
22:07 – Interview questions that actually work (go past tense)
25:02 – What brands want vs. what they actually need in a hire
26:36 – Ideal candidate profiles by revenue stage
29:00 – Building and maintaining company culture
33:20 – Brands and trends William is watching
35:00 – Where to find William and Talent Brew

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Links:

Talent Brew – https://mytalentbrew.com/
Follow William on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-underwood-405677245/
Follow Talent Brew on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/mytalent-brew/
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 Hannah Awada, Co-founder and CEO of Hummus Goodness - the Michigan-based brand making authentic, clean-label Lebanese-style hummus with real ingredients and zero preservatives.

We talk about selling hummus out of her kitchen window in Shanghai to expats on WeChat, to re-launching Hummus Goodness in a church kitchen in Michigan in 2019. Hannah walks through the formulation decisions that keep the product authentic - olive oil over soybean oil, fresh lemon juice, no citric acid - and how a made-to-order production model protects cash and margin.

A big part of the conversation focuses on the Meijer relationship - how a competitor recall opened the door, how Hannah grew from 3 local format stores to all 278 Meijer locations, and why in-store demos remain her number one velocity driver. 

Hannah also breaks down the brand's major packaging refresh, going from a clear cup with a white lid to bold, personality-driven packaging with playful flavor names like Garlic Glory and The Big Dill.

We also get into the anchor account strategy Hannah uses for new market expansion, bootstrapping for five years before a pre-seed round with Michigan Rise, and the tight-knit Michigan CPG founder community she leans on.

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Episode Highlights:

🏠 Origin story: selling hummus out of a kitchen window in Shanghai
🧪 Formulation: olive oil, fresh lemon, and zero preservatives
⏱️ Made-to-order production (not made-to-stock)
⛪ From a church kitchen to a 7,000 cups/week operation
🏭 Finding a manufacturing partner through family connections
🛒 How a competitor recall opened the door at Meijer
📈 Growing from 3 local format stores to all 278 Meijer locations
🎯 In-store demos as the #1 velocity driver
🎨 The packaging rebrand that matched the brand's personality
✈️ Food service channel (Delta Sky Lounges, universities)
💸 Bootstrapping for 5 years before a pre-seed round
🤝 The Michigan CPG founder community
👀 "Kitchen Couture" and the rise of beautiful packaging

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Table of Contents:

00:00 – Intro
00:48 – Origin story: Shanghai to Michigan
03:30 – Lessons from selling hummus in Shanghai
05:08 – Formulation and shelf life without preservatives
07:10 – Church kitchen to own facility
09:36 – Scaling from 700 to 7,000 cups a week for Meijer
11:00 – Finding a manufacturing partner
13:17 – Co-packer relationship advice
15:00 – How a competitor recall opened the door at Meijer
17:03 – Growing to all 278 Meijer stores
19:29 – Bootstrapping for five years
22:07 – Anchor account strategy for new markets
25:20 – Driving velocity at retail
27:02 – The packaging rebrand
31:13 – Rebrand rollout lessons
33:10 – Food service as a channel
36:13 – Michigan CPG founder community
38:18 – Kitchen Couture and trends to watch

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Links:

Hummus Goodness – https://www.hummusgoodness.com/
Follow Hannah on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanadyawada/
Follow Hummus Goodness on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/hummus-goodness/
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 Rob Johnson, Co-Founder & CEO of Born Simple and Head of Innovation at Mizkan America - the protein-forward shelf-stable complete, prepared meals brand that pivoted from barbecue sauces and broth concentrates into a category that every buyer in the country says is desperate for a makeover. 

Rob spent years running small natural and organic brands inside Conagra before leaving to build Born Simple, selling it to Mizkan in 2021, and sticking around for nearly five years - one of the longer founder tenures post-acquisition in recent memory.

We dig into how Born Simple was literally born in a Whole Foods meeting - the buyer hated the existing brand but loved the products, and Rob walked out with a nationwide launch commitment across two categories before the brand even had a name.

Robs gets into what he calls the "NASCAR package" problem in big CPG, the Mizkan acquisition, and what founders should actually pay attention to beyond the check size.

We also cover Rob's new role leading innovation across Mizkan America, where he's trying to expand beyond what he calls "innovation behind a computer screen" and replace it with startup-style consumer empathy inside a 225-year-old, $1B+ family-owned company.

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Episode Highlights:

🍖 How Born Simple went from barbecue sauce to protein-forward shelf-stable meals
🛒 Landing a nationwide Whole Foods launch before the brand had a name
🎨 Brand design inspired by Brandless and Public Goods - simplicity as strategy
📦 The "NASCAR package" problem and why big CPG over-communicates on shelf
🏷️ Adapting packaging to category - why Tetra Pak pasta sauce didn't work
💰 Selling to Mizkan in 2021 and key deal terms for founders (earnouts, key man clauses)
🤝 Why post-acquisition integration speed is the #1 thing founders overlook
🔄 Pivoting into shelf-stable complete meals - a category in desperate need of a makeover
🚀 Leading innovation at Mizkan America and killing "innovation behind a computer screen"
🧪 Bringing startup thinking to a 225-year-old, $1B+ family-owned company

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Table of Contents:

00:00 – Intro
00:45 – Origin story and the Whole Foods meeting
03:18 – The Brandless and Public Goods insight
04:52 – Small companies doing unscalable things
05:57 – What big CPG experience actually teaches you
10:10 – Sitting on both sides of M&A
12:01 – Building Born Simple's brand identity and packaging design
14:40 – The "NASCAR package" problem
15:55 – Adapting packaging to category (Tetra Pak pasta sauce)
17:18 – The stand cap pouch and glass recycling
21:42 – Selling to Mizkan and reading the funding tea leaves
26:10 – Key deal terms and what founders should negotiate
28:15 – Post-acquisition integration and why it destroys value
32:08 – Pivoting to protein-forward shelf-stable meals
36:33 – Head of Innovation at Mizkan America
38:00 – "Innovation behind a computer screen"

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Links:

Born Simple – https://www.bornsimple.com/
Mizkan – https://www.mizkan.com/
Follow Rob on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/robj2/
Follow Adam 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 Griffin Spolansky, Co-Founder & CEO of Mezcla - the plant-based puff crispy protein bar brand that's gone from Boston bodegas to 9,000+ doors and $17M raised.

We dive into how Griffin started iterating in a co-founder's kitchen at 20 years old, how they landed on the puff crispy format, and the gut-driven flavor decisions behind their launch lineup. 

Griffin shares hard-earned advice on formulation, finding co-packers, and why keeping things simple beats trying to look sophisticated.

We also get into the real mechanics of scaling from 50,000 bars in year one to a target of 20-30 million this year, why they stripped country qualifiers from flavor names to unlock supply chain flexibility, how their rebrand was driven by shelf clarity needs in mass conventional and club, and the door-to-door hustle that got them into their first 50 Boston bodegas before cracking Costco.

Griffin also breaks down his profitability-first approach to growth, how he evaluates demos and secondary displays against trade spend budgets, and why he believes a founder's job is to create FOMO.

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Episode Highlights:

🍫 Origin story: creating a protein bar that's actually fun to eat
🧪 Formulation R&D and why they chose the puff crispy format
🏭 Finding co-packers and keeping your co-man honest
🚚 Supply chain shifts (removing country qualifiers to scale)
🎨 Packaging rebrand for shelf clarity in mass retail
🛒 Door-to-door in Boston bodegas and cracking the distributor code
💰 Growth with profitability: unit economics as the foundation
🎯 Getting into Costco through Expo West
🛍️ In-store demos, secondary displays, and trade spend math
💸 Raising $17M total and the Series B journey
🔥 Why a founder's job is to create FOMO
👀 Brands to watch: Coconut Cult and Fish Wife

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Table of Contents:

00:00 – Intro
00:37 – Origin story and the idea behind Mezcla
02:10 – Formulation, R&D, and choosing the puff crispy format
05:04 – Advice for up-and-coming CPG founders
06:44 – Finding and working with co-packers
09:07 – Supply chain and raw material sourcing at scale
10:36 – Packaging design and building brand identity
12:01 – The rebrand and designing for shelf clarity
15:09 – Go-to-market: door-to-door in Boston and New York
15:57 – Distributors, DSDs, and the chicken-and-egg problem
17:48 – Growth with profitability and unit economics
19:55 – Building out the board
20:51 – Pricing strategy on shelf
21:50 – Getting into Costco
23:41 – In-store demos, secondary displays, and trade spend
27:02 – Fundraising and the Series B
29:22 – Creating FOMO and the Boshon's model
32:40 – Brands and trends to watch

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Links:

Mezcla – https://eatmezcla.com/
Follow Griffin on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/griffinspolansky/
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 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 Jason Bronstad, CEO of MALK Organics, the fast-growing organic plant-based milk brand built on clean, simple ingredients with no gums, oils, or fillers. 

Jason brings two decades of CPG experience across brands like Sara Lee, Mike's Hard, and Swell Cocktail Company.

Jason initially came in as a consultant in late 2020, stepping into the CEO role in mid-2021. Two decades in bev alc shaped his CPG playbook: earn shelf space every review, obsess over velocity, protect trust with your consumer.

We dive into "the Kerfuffle," the Thanksgiving 2021 reformulation to organic natural flavors that blew up with loyal fans including Food Babe, and how Jason did one-on-one CEO-to-influencer calls by Wednesday with a new vanilla extract formula by Friday. 

Jason talks about why they cut the SKU count from 14 to 3, the creamer whitener problem, and the year-long HPP-to-ESL shift that unlocked shelf life for Publix and Kroger.

We also get into the retail strategy, touching on why you shouldn't take every door in an A-tier to C-tier rollout, and why traditional demos stopped penciling post-COVID.

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Episode Highlights:

🥛 The MALK origin story (farmers market to 16,000+ doors)
⚠️ "The Kerfuffle": the Thanksgiving 2021 vanilla reformulation that blew up with loyal fans like Food Babe
🛠️ Monday crisis, Friday fix: rebuilding trust with one-on-one CEO-to-influencer calls
✂️ Cutting from 14 SKUs to 3 to actually commercialize
📉 Why oat fell off the cliff and where those consumers went
☕ The creamer whitener problem and the coconut creamer relaunch
🏭 Shifting from HPP to ESL for shelf life that unlocks mainstream retail
📊 Velocity is truth: 3.5x category in natural, nearly 6x at Publix
🛒 Why you shouldn't take every door in an A-tier to C-tier rollout
🎪 Why traditional demos stopped penciling and the shift to festivals
👥 Scaling 8 to 44 people with a remote-first Dreams workshop
🎯 Extreme Ownership starting at the top
🔮 More brands embracing fewer ingredients (imitation as flattery)

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Table of Contents:

00:00 – Intro
00:51 – MALK origin story
01:30 – From consultant to CEO
02:57 – CPG fundamentals from the bev alc years
04:11 – The Thanksgiving 2021 "Kerfuffle" and same-week reformulation
07:02 – Cutting from 14 SKUs to 3 to commercialize
08:16 – Following consumers as oat fell off the cliff
10:26 – The creamer whitener problem and relaunch
12:32 – Shifting from HPP to ESL for shelf life
14:06 – Velocity is truth: proving out in natural before MULO
15:58 – First MULO launch at Publix
18:30 – Kroger banner expansion and A-tier to C-tier rollout
20:20 – Pricing, calories, and the ingredient deck conversation
23:42 – Demo strategy shift post-COVID
27:33 – Scaling from 8 to 44 people with culture intact
28:20 – Dreams workshops and a remote-first culture
30:48 – Extreme Ownership and culture advice for growing CEOs
35:46 – 16K to 67K doors: the next phase of growth

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Links:

MALK Organics – http://malkorganics.com/
Follow Jason on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonbronstad/
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 Jonathan Skaare, Founder & CEO of Scout CPG - the fractional sales and channel support firm built specifically for better-for-you CPG brands. 

Jonathan spent over 20 years in sales leadership roles at Kellogg's, Annie's, Vital Farms, and Acme Provisions before channeling all of that experience into helping emerging brands scale smarter without breaking the bank.

We dig into the real mechanics of how emerging brands should think about sales infrastructure - when to use a broker, when to go fractional, and when to bring someone in-house. Jonathan breaks down why the broker model isn't actually broken, but that most brands don't understand what brokers can and can't do, and why that misalignment is where things fall apart.

We get into retail execution, distributor velocity thresholds, and why getting on the shelf is only step one - getting off the shelf is the real work. Jonathan walks through his preferred approach to the natural-to-conventional transition, why he likes retailer-specific and regional brokers at early stage, and how Scout builds a financial model for every account before a brand sells into it to make sure the numbers actually pencil out.

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Episode Highlights:

🏗️ Why Jonathan built Scout CPG after 20+ years in sales leadership
🤝 Why the broker model isn't broken - brands just misunderstand it
💰 Broker compensation structures (retainer, commission, and hybrids)
🚀 Fractional sales vs. broker vs. full-time hire - how to decide
🛒 Why retailer-specific and regional brokers shine at early stage
📦 Mile wide vs. mile deep - why distribution strategy matters more than door count
📊 Velocity is king - the first 90 days on shelf
🎯 How to transition from natural/specialty to conventional retail
📝 What a great buyer deck actually looks like (5-6 pages max)
💸 Scout's "customer planner" - modeling profitability before selling in
⚠️ Common mistakes brands make in buyer meetings
👀 Why you should visit the store before you pitch the buyer

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Table of Contents:

00:00 – Intro
00:44 – Origin story and the why behind Scout CPG
03:05 – How Scout differs from a traditional broker
05:55 – Why the broker model isn't broken
07:16 – Broker compensation structures
10:05 – How Scout's financial model works differently
12:28 – Fractional sales vs. broker vs. full-time hire
17:00 – Regional vs. national vs. retailer-specific brokers
20:58 – Choosing the right channel and region first
23:42 – Retail execution: good ideas, bad implementation
25:44 – Going a mile wide vs. a mile deep
28:19 – The first 90 days on shelf
32:20 – Natural to conventional transition
35:33 – Building a buyer presentation that works
39:07 – The customer planner: financial modeling before selling in
42:13 – Where to follow Jonathan and Scout CPG

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Links:

Scout CPG – https://www.scout-cpg.com/
Follow Jonathan on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-skaare-b9126922/
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 Phyllis Rothschild, CMO of Pete & Gerry's Organics - the #1 organic egg brand and #1 free range egg brand in the U.S. 

Phyllis spent nearly 30 years in consulting at firms like McKinsey and Oliver Wyman before making the jump in-house to lead marketing.

Phyllis breaks down the "word soup" problem in the egg aisle - where terms like cage free, free range, organic, and pasture raised all blur together - and the education-first strategy the team uses to cut through it, including brand-agnostic shelf signage created with retail partners.

Phyllis walks through how the team manages two distinct brands in the same category, with consumer personas like "Ellie the Egg" for Nellie's Free Range and "Heather the Hen Hugger" for Pete & Gerry's pasture raised. 

She shares how the avian flu crisis created a trial opportunity when commodity prices surged and Pete & Gerry's held prices flat, and what the team did to retain those new-to-brand buyers once the gap widened again.

We also dig into the packaging refresh across both brands, the color blocking strategy (navy for organic, bright yellow for pasture raised, sky blue for pasture raised organic), and in-store tactics in a category where 75% of purchase decisions are made at shelf.

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Episode Highlights:

🥚 Why Phyllis left McKinsey for the egg aisle
📊 Data-backed decision-making from 30 years in consulting
🛒 The "word soup" problem in the egg aisle (cage free, free range, organic, pasture raised)
📖 Education-first strategy with brand-agnostic shelf signage
👥 Consumer segmentation: Ellie, Beth, and Heather
🐔 The distributed family farm model (350+ farms) and supply chain resilience
💰 Holding prices flat during avian flu while commodity prices surged 59%
🎨 Packaging color blocking: navy, yellow, sky blue
📦 The "Sacred Ribbon" and why on-shelf side panel cues matter
🏪 75% of egg brand decisions are made at shelf
📜 Cage-free legislation and the 7x free range volume lift in legislated states

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Table of Contents:

00:00 – Intro
00:42 – Pete & Gerry's overview and brand portfolio
02:10 – Why Phyllis left consulting for Pete & Gerry's
03:56 – Transitioning from consulting to in-house
05:48 – How a consulting background shapes CPG marketing
07:45 – The "word soup" problem in the egg aisle
09:54 – Education as a growth driver
11:53 – Metrics for measuring consumer knowledge
13:24 – Managing two brands in the same category
17:28 – Consumer segmentation and price pack architecture
19:11 – Navigating the avian flu crisis
23:12 – Trial, retention, and new-to-brand metrics
25:46 – The packaging refresh and pasture raised launch
30:50 – Lessons from redesigning both brands
34:36 – In-store strategy and shelf set optimization
39:06 – Cage-free legislation and its impact on premium
42:02 – Trends: whole food sources and clean protein

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Links:

Pete & Gerry's – https://www.peteandgerrys.com/
Follow Phyllis on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/phyllisrothschild/
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 Harry McKaig, CEO of Double Cross Vodka - the premium vodka brand distilled in the Tatras Mountains of Slovakia by an 11th-generation distilling family, and one of the few vodkas to ever score 95 points from Wine Enthusiast. 

Harry brings over 20 years of beverage industry experience spanning Anheuser-Busch, Diageo, Southern Glazer's, Pernod Ricard, and The Wine Group, where he oversaw a $250M+ business.

We get into the full arc of vodka premiumization from Smirnoff in the '50s through Absolut's legendary print campaigns, Grey Goose's dominance, and what the next wave looks like for premium spirits. 

Harry breaks down how the three-tier distribution system has consolidated into what he calls a "five-tier" reality - with brokers on one end and delivery platforms like GoPuff and DoorDash on the other - and what that means for emerging brands trying to navigate route to market.

Harry walks through his return to Double Cross after the brand was nearly wiped out during the pandemic, and the disciplined three-phase rebuild strategy he's running now across New York, New Jersey, and Florida. 

We also cover his thesis on Gen Z and the "intention-behavior gap," his take on non-alc, and why he thinks better-for-you fatigue may be on the horizon.

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Episode Highlights:

🍸 The history of vodka premiumization (Smirnoff to Grey Goose to now)
🏔️ Double Cross origin story (68 distilleries, 11th-generation Slovak family)
🏆 Scoring 95 points from Wine Enthusiast in the vodka category
🛒 How the three-tier system evolved into five tiers
🤝 What brand owners don't learn without time on the distributor side
📞 Cold-calling e-commerce customers to understand the consumer base
🎯 Going deep not wide (250 doors vs. 900 in New Jersey)
🍹 "Build brands on, sell them off" and the post-pandemic on-premise reality
📊 The intention-behavior gap and Gen Z's delayed consumption habits

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Table of Contents:

00:00 – Intro
00:52 – Origin story and the premiumization of vodka
02:55 – How the founders found their distillery in Slovakia
04:12 – Current distribution strategy: going deep, not wide
04:54 – The state of BevAlc and why headlines are misleading
07:24 – The three-tier system and distributor consolidation
09:55 – How the three-tier became five tiers (brokers, e-comm, delivery)
11:38 – How to choose the right distributor
13:56 – Lessons from the distributor side that brand owners miss
16:22 – Harry's return to Double Cross and the rebuild plan
19:24 – Choosing focus markets and reverse-engineering consumer data
21:13 – Velocity tactics: on-premise, geofencing, paid social
23:56 – Gen Z, the intention-behavior gap, and the health paradox
27:28 – Double Cross brand positioning and consumer messaging
29:34 – The non-alc space and why it doesn't threaten spirits
31:37 – Trends: protein everywhere and better-for-you fatigue

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Links:

Double Cross Vodka – https://www.doublecrossvodka.com/
Follow Harry on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrymckaig/
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 Tia Ellis, Founder of Wildflower Insight - the retail strategy and education company that teaches CPG founders how to pitch buyers and win purchase orders. 

Tia is a former broker who has helped brands sell well over $100 million worth of product into major U.S. retailers.
 
Tia walks through the buyer psychology that drives purchasing decisions, including why buyers care most about category performance and internal KPIs, not whether they personally like your product. We get into her winning pitch deck structure, including the critical "retailer fit" slide that should change for every single retailer you pitch.
 
We dive into the golden retail rule - a scaling framework Tia first heard from a Walmart buyer - that maps the path from local to regional to national retail. 

She shares a cautionary story about a brand that skipped steps, landed a 3,000+ store global account, and couldn't support past the fifth purchase order because of 90-day payment terms and cash flow issues. 

We also cover operational readiness, logistics gaps that trip up founders (FTL vs. LTL, carrier management, warehouse transitions), pricing strategy across different retailer types, when brokers actually make sense versus when founders should pitch themselves, and why starting with retailers that don't require a distributor can save early-stage brands real money.
 
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Episode Highlights:

🏪 Brokers vs. pitching it yourself (and when each makes sense)
🧠 Buyer psychology - why buyers are not consumers
📊 The two pitch deck slides that matter most for data
🎨 The "retailer fit" slide (and why it changes every time)
🎯 The golden retail rule - local to regional to national
🚚 Operational readiness and the logistics gap founders miss
💸 Pricing strategy across Costco, Walmart, Sprouts, and specialty
🛒 Why starting with retailers that skip distributors saves money
 
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Table of Contents:

00:00 – Intro
00:46 – Origin story and why Tia started Wildflower Insight
03:09 – Two types of founders Wildflower serves
06:05 – When it makes sense to hire a broker
08:46 – Buyers are not consumers
09:10 – Three pitches every founder needs to master
12:00 – The role of data in buyer meetings
12:43 – Growth, trends, and the brand sales slides
14:16 – The pitch deck structure and retailer fit slide
18:07 – The golden retail rule explained
22:36 – Cautionary tale of skipping steps
26:29 – Operational readiness and being shelf-ready
27:22 – The logistics gap (FTL, LTL, carrier management)
28:46 – Pitching Costco vs. Walmart vs. specialty retailers
29:37 – Pricing strategy across retailer types
31:37 – Starting with retailers that don't require a distributor
33:52 – Trends Tia is watching (prebiotics and probiotics)
35:29 – Where to follow Tia and Wildflower Insight
 
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Links:

Wildflower Insight – https://wildflowerinsight.com/
Follow Tia on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiaellis/
Follow Tia on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/thetiaellis/
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 Hovik Azadkhanian, CEO of Heirloom Coffee Roasters - the fastest-growing coffee brand in the natural channel and the first nationally available 100% regenerative organic certified specialty coffee. 

Hovik has been in the coffee roasting business for over 30 years, starting alongside his dad as a kid and spending years in private label and toll roasting before launching Heirloom.

We dive into how roasting millions of pounds of coffee for other brands gave Hovik the data to develop Heirloom's proprietary Culinary Roast - a technique that manipulates time, temperature, air pressure, and gas flow to unlock specific flavor profiles at scale. That process led to winning the Good Food Award against 1,700 coffees, a first for any regenerative coffee.

Hovik walks through the realities of the coffee supply chain, including a USDA study that found 43% of certified organic products tested above the legal limit for banned substances. He breaks down Heirloom's triple-testing protocol across 311 synthetic pesticides and the story of rejecting tens of thousands of pounds of glyphosate-contaminated coffee.

We also get into Heirloom's direct trade model, which cuts out 15-20 middlemen and pays farmers three to six dollars per pound versus 30-60 cents under the traditional model.

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Episode Highlights:

☕ 30+ years roasting coffee (started at age 8)
🏭 From private label to building a national brand
🧪 The Culinary Roast (manipulating time, temperature, gas, air pressure)
🏆 Winning the Good Food Award against 1,700 coffees
⚠️ 43% of organic products failing pesticide standards (USDA study)
🔬 Triple-testing protocol for 311 synthetic pesticides
🌱 Direct trade model (farmer to roaster, no middlemen)
🤝 The Pacayala cooperative story in Honduras
🛒 Going national at Sprouts and becoming the #1 selling coffee
🎯 Land and expand in natural, then break into mass retail

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Table of Contents:

00:00 – Intro
00:33 – Origin story and why behind the brand
04:17 – Reacquiring the Oakland roasting facility
05:25 – Developing the Culinary Roast process
08:29 – Iterations and the Good Food Award win
10:20 – R&D and SKU strategy
12:41 – The glyphosate contamination story
15:25 – USDA organic study and the limits of certifications
17:37 – What CPG brands should do about independent testing
19:39 – Vertical integration and cutting out middlemen
20:45 – Building direct farm relationships
23:06 – The Pacaya cooperative in Honduras
26:00 – Farmer economics (30 cents vs $3-6 per pound)
28:45 – Retail trajectory and going national at Sprouts
30:58 – Tactics for driving velocity in natural channel
31:56 – Retail expansion plans and breaking into mass
32:22 – Food service as a brand awareness channel
33:13 – Brand identity and packaging design decisions
34:43 – 2026 goals and new form factors

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Links:

Heirloom Coffee Roasters – https://heirloomcoffeeroasters.com/
Follow Hovik on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/hovik-azadkhanian-a2404830/
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.