On this episode of The Barcode Podcast, Ben interviews Nick Ajluni & Nick Guillen, co-founders of Truff. The Nicks (as they are affectionally known) share their journey from early entrepreneurial inspirations to the founding of Truff, an unabashed luxury CPG brand with a cult-like following.

The Nicks and Ben discuss the experiences that led up to and shaped the founding of Truff. Inspired by premium alcohol brands, luxury streetwear, and bolstered by insights from industry tastemakers, this conversation highlights their brand-first approach to building their beloved truffle-infused brand.

How do you get up to speed when you're starting out in a CPG company? Whether you're new to consumer packaged goods because you're following your dream to start your own brand or whether you're joining an established CPG team from another industry, one of the best things you can do for yourself (and this is true for CPG or any industry) is learn the jargon within that industry, as well as understand how the economic model works - how the money is made. 

At Barcode, we exist to equip emerging consumer brands. And one of the best ways we can do that is to give you the knowledge and frameworks you need to get up to speed as quickly as possible so you can have an understanding of what is going on and get into the details so you can contribute as quickly as possible.

Whether you use this episode as an orientation to CPG for new hires or listen to figure out what those acronyms you keep hearing your distribution rep use actually mean, we know this episode will serve you well as you grow your CPG brand.

Be sure to visit https://barcodestartup.com/cpg-101 to download a handout with commonly used CPG acronyms, and please share and subscribe to the podcast.

Our guest today is Mason Arnold, the CEO of Cece’s Veggie Co. Mason shares his journey bringing foundational ingredients to meals through noodled veggies. With dietary restrictions and gluten allergies, many people need alternatives to a spaghetti-style noodle. Mason was at the forefront of this industry, leaning on a background in engineering, Mason developed the best way to handle different vegetables and valued the fork-behavior (how the noodle picks up sauce) and mouth-feel (texture) for his products.

Mason and Ben discuss the challenges that can occur when your business is so successful. Problems still exist, and they're bigger problems that have more zeros behind them! This is a super enlightening conversation for what to think through and plan for when you hit that magical consumer/product fit combination and your product starts flying off the shelves.

Full transcript available at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

On this episode of The Barcode Podcast, Ben Ponder interviews Ryan Gravelle of Kastner Gravelle. The goal of this conversation is to help entrepreneurs learn more about the important legal decisions and issues that could come up within their business.

Ryan and Ben talk a lot about choosing the right entity for your business. They share some great general advice, but as always, listeners are encouraged to consult their own attorneys with questions or concerns.

What does being an entrepreneur really look like? It may have taken you longer to grow your business than you had planned. You may wonder how or why you got where you are. But if you find success, you may not know what to do when offers start to come around. Ben and Ryan discuss what to do if you are ready to sell your business. Social media doesn’t always tell the whole story.

For more takeaways from this conversation and a complete transcript, please visit https://barcodestartup.com/podcast.

Today on The Barcode Podcast, Ben is joined by Nelson Monteith, the restaurateur behind Honest Mary’s in Austin, Texas. You will hear about Nelson and his wife’s journey into the restaurant industry. Their goal was to offer quick, delicious, and life-giving food. Nelson shares about his education, goals of starting a business, and how he maintains an excellent customer experience.

You will hear about some of the benefits of being an entrepreneur when starting a restaurant. Nelson enjoys cooking but is not a chef. This can work to his advantage so he truly sees what the customer wants. He is not as distracted by an emotional attachment to a recipe. Nelson’s integrity is evident in the way he views his restaurant. He values the hiring process, word-of-mouth marketing, and doing the small things that add to your brand’s trustworthiness.

Complete transcript available at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

Today on The Barcode Podcast, Ben Ponder interviews Steven Blustein of PrideBites. Who wants to share more photos than a pet-parent? Almost nobody! - which is why this was such a great market for Steven Blustein to enter. Steven began working as a tax accountant on weekdays, and ended up selling his college mascot dog toys at tailgates on the weekends.

What started as a few friends selling dog toys at USC, grew into a huge operation. The product they had was different. It was customizable, made with foam, and the people loved it. The team learned a lot from trade shows and before you knew it, they were featured on Shark Tank.

Steven walks us through the preparation for Shark Tank, and more importantly- what took place after. What happens when your 15 minutes of fame is over? Steven has learned a lot from tough-love over the years and has experienced the ups and downs of starting a business. He shares life lessons surrounding making selfless choices, how to get refocused, and what it’s like to evolve over the years. He shares some of the darker moments in his career journey and the importance of lifelong learning.

Complete transcript available at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

Today on The Barcode Podcast, we're talking with CLEAN Cause founder Wes Hurt. This is a candid conversation - Wes talks about his drug addiction and recovery that led to founding CLEAN, a sparkling yerba mate water with the mission to create a sustainable source of funding for recovery efforts. 50% of profits support recovery from drug and alcohol addiction.

For a complete transcript and links mentioned in this episode, visit https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

How does a savvy brand think about design? While the logo and look and packaging of a CPG brand is important, there is so much more that goes into creating the visual identity of a brand.  

Bryan Taylor is the founder, creative director of Drawn which is an integrated marketing design agency based in Eugene, Oregon. He has vast experience not only designing the look of well known national and international brands, but the experiences that cement customer relationships with those brands.

For the complete transcript, visit https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

Today on The Barcode Podcast, we welcome Lyn Graft, a videographer, entrepreneur, and master of story. Lyn is the author of the book Start With Story: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Using Story to Build Your Business.

As a videographer, Lyn is committed to helping brands tell their stories through video. The most important part of a pitch, Lyn says, is the origin story. Many founders don’t always capitalize on that story, even though the story is the most powerful tool their business possesses.

For more takeaways from this conversation and a complete transcript, please visit https://barcodestartup.com/podcast.

Today on The Barcode Podcast, we welcome guest Carrie Lumb-Dewey, who has decades of experience in CPG. Carrie walks us through her background in tax accounting, her position at Clorox, and her first few jobs after moving to Austin, Texas to raise her family before joining the team at Stubb's, where she headed up the marketing department, creating strategies that revolved around the customer - and what happened when she and her team learned that the Stubb’s consumer was not who they expected.

Ben and Carrie also talk through the changing social media atmosphere, dive deep into the learning experience of McCormick’s acquisition of Stubb’s and Carrie offers a few pieces of advice to early-stage founders.

Transcript available at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast