The Barcode Podcast

The Barcode Podcast is presented by Titanium CPG Insurance. Titanium protects forward-thinking consumer brands with a range of commercial insurance products and risk management services designed specifically for natural and organic food and beverage companies. Learn more at titaniumcpg.com

When it comes to scaling a business, many of our guests have had experience taking a product that has gained a foothold in a small, local market and then scaling it to a national market. Our guest on today's episode of the Barcode Podcast, Lilly Wunsch, knows a great deal about how to scale a company but has had the unique experience of taking a product in a category that didn't exist and not only helping establish the category but has led that product to scale. And she's done this not just once but with two different products to scale - Fourth and Heart ghee and now OHi bars.

The Barcode Podcast is presented by Titanium CPG Insurance. Titanium protects forward-thinking consumer brands with a range of commercial insurance products and risk management services designed specifically for natural and organic food and beverage companies. Learn more online at titaniumcpg.com

This week, we're speaking to Daniel Nicholson, President and CEO of NadaMoo! - a dairy-free ice cream company based in Austin, TX. Though he had no background in CPG when he started out at NadaMoo! as the controller, through determination and hard work (including a period of time where he was running NadaMoo! and simultaneously working as a controller for Beanitos) he's helmed company through massive growth.

In honor of this holiday week, we’re going to pivot a bit and talk to a different founder outside the food and beverage space. Today we’re talking to Jeff Pinsker, CEO Amigo Games USA, which seemed an appropriate programming choice on this Christmas Eve. We’ll touch on food a bit, but we have a wide-ranging conversation from talking about his early business playing elaborate pranks for dollars to his current career trajectory, to knowing your numbers as an entrepreneur and how games can win in a world full of screens. 

For links and further information, visit https://barcodestartup.com/podcast/

From her time managing big CPG brands in Compton to bringing Peet's Coffee to a wider national audience to her current role helping launch Republica Organic Coffee in the United States, Lori Azevedo has vast knowledge on what it takes to grow a CPG brand. 

Her wide range of experience and success across all types of consumer products is a testament to her ability to build relationships and learn from everyone, and we know you'll learn a great deal as she talks about lessons learned in today's episode.

Show notes: https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

In an omnichannel world, almost every brand will work with a major wholesale distributor at some point. On this episode, we’re sharing a recording from a live event we held earlier this year featuring Suman Lawrence of United Natural Foods, the US' largest natural grocery distributor. Suman runs the UNFI Next program for the Southwest region of the country, so she specializes in on-boarding early-stage brands and mentoring them toward success. Your distribution partnerships are among the most important in your business; and there is a lot of information packed into this episode, but Suman shares some really great, specific advice on how you can get this relationship off on the right foot.  

At Barcode, we think a lot about closing the gap of learning that comes from direct experience. Because one thing we see time and time again is this - a brand grows over time, gets sold for a ton of money, and then the founder who just sold doesn’t go sit on a beach somewhere. He or she turns around and starts building something new. And then that second company reaches success in a dramatically shorter period of time. The lessons that the founder learned in the first rodeo dramatically impacts the trajectory and time horizon of future rodeos.  

Our guest Sean O’Connor, Managing Partner at Big Swig Sparkling Water and Dynamo Specialty Distributing, has lived that story and has a ton to share on what it takes to create and launch a food or beverage brand. He has deep experience in food and beverage distribution combined with the unique perspective he gained when he started a rapidly-scaling food company of his own back in 2005.

Welcome to The Barcode Podcast, where we equip emerging consumer brands. I’m your host, Ben Ponder, and at Barcode, we’re here to give our listeners the knowledge and tools you need to thrive in the marketplace. 

For today’s episode, we’re sharing a live recording from one of our past Barcode events. The CPG founders here in Austin - like so many of you listening - are often looking for investors in their companies so they have the money they need to continue making their products. While bringing on investors can be a great move for continued growth, it could also be, in some cases or situations, a catastrophically bad move. To decide what’s right for you, you first have to understand how equity works and also what your reasons and expectations are with regard to taking on outside investment. At Barcode, our focus is on equipping you for your entrepreneurial journey, and this episode is full of information that will get you on the path to make the right decision for your company and situation. We also have a PDF handout that accompanies this episode. Visit barcodestartup.com/podcast and click on this episode to find and download the handout.

Disruption. Innovation. We hear buzzy business words like that so often, but what they actually mean? What does it look like to disrupt an industry or an aisle in the grocery store? If you create some cool new thing that doesn’t solve a problem, it doesn’t matter how cool the thing is. Innovation for the sake of innovation doesn’t matter if no one needs the thing you made. 

From his start as the creative director at Bear Naked granola to his current role as the COO of Pact Clothing, our guest Jon Jennings has been part of some big transitions and innovations in his career.

The Barcode Podcast is presented by Titanium CPG Insurance. Titanium protects forward-thinking consumer brands with a range of commercial insurance products and risk management services designed specifically for natural and organic food and beverage companies. Learn more at titaniumcpg.com

Transcript and other resources available at https://barcodestartup.com/jon-jennings

When you’re competing against huge CPG brands to get your product on a store shelf, you need all the insight and advantages you can get. And our guest today is the perfect person to share those insights.

Matt Gase's career has spanned every size and stage of CPG. He spent the first part of his career running giant global brands around the world for Ralston Purina (now Nestlé Purina) and Conagra.

In Austin, he led two mid-sized, companies with strong legacies: Commemorative Brands (Balfour) and Stubb's Legendary Bar-B-Q. Following the acquisition of Stubb's by McCormick, Matt took the reins at a scrappy challenger hummus brand, Lantana Foods. 

For the complete transcript and show notes, please visit https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

Making the leap from the farmers market to the grocery store shelf is no small thing. And when you’re selling something with a really tricky production schedule like eggs and trying to do it in a way that takes the welfare of the animals into account, there’s an entirely different layer of complexity to creating the systems that allow you to scale.

Our guest today has deep experience with that very thing. Today I’m talking with Jason Jones, co-founder of Vital Farms. Vital changed grocery shelves nationwide through their pioneering approach to making quality food by emphasizing animal welfare. Before Vital Farms, you could only really get pasture-raised eggs from your backyard or from the farmer’s market, and now you can get them at just about every grocery store in America.

Transcript and Show Links: https://barcodestartup.com/jason-jones