Meet Sarah Nathan, founder of Nooish, who transformed traditional Jewish matzo ball soup into an instant comfort food sensation.

On this episode of The Good Food CFO podcast, Nathan shares how her decade of experience in CPG and deep roots in Jewish culinary culture led her to invent freeze-dried matzo balls - a culinary breakthrough that turns an hours-long cooking process into a 2.5-minute preparation. 

Beyond the innovation, she reveals how authenticity in branding and patience during development helped Nooish become a runaway success in the gifting market, particularly resonating with parents sending comfort to college students. Nathan's candid insights about pricing, growth strategy, and building a sustainable business make this episode essential listening for food entrepreneurs looking to create both meaningful products and profitable brands.

Connect with Sarah Nathan: Website: Nooish Instagram: @nooishfoods TikTok: @nooishfoods LinkedIn: nathansarah

Join The Good Food CFO Community: Follow us on Instagram: @thegoodfoodcfo Connect on LinkedIn: @sarahdelevan Watch on YouTube: @thegoodfoodcfo Become a Member: BABOYOT

In this special bonus episode of the Good Food CFO podcast, Sarah Delavan shares a deeply personal moment as she prepares to leave the home office where her consulting business was born seven years ago. From an unexpected job loss that led to her first consulting gig, to launching a podcast that's grown into a thriving community, Sarah reflects on how this single room has witnessed hundreds of conversations with founders across the globe – from Los Angeles to New Zealand.

With characteristic authenticity, she explores the complex emotions of being simultaneously grateful for a space while yearning for something different, a feeling many founders might relate to. As she prepares for this next chapter, Sarah shares how this unexpected journey has transformed not just her career, but her understanding of building something meaningful.

Join us for this intimate look behind the scenes as we bid farewell to where it all began.

The Good Food CFO Community: 

Follow us on Instagram: @thegoodfoodcfo 

Connect on LinkedIn: @sarahdelevan 

Watch on YouTube: @thegoodfoodcfo 

Become a Member: BABOYOT

In this must-listen season finale, Sarah Delevan flips the script on typical year-end planning by exploring why looking back is crucial before looking ahead. Inspired by an Office Hours member's approach to evaluating progress, Sarah reveals how understanding your past performance in context can transform your decision-making. She challenges the "bigger is better" mindset, explaining why sometimes declining revenue in certain channels can actually signal success. Through real-world examples, Sarah demonstrates how to conduct an effective year-end review - from analyzing specific metrics that matter for your unique goals to understanding why some goals weren't achieved (and why that's okay). 

Whether you're closing out a banner year or facing challenges, this episode offers practical insights for conducting your own year-end review and using those insights to chart a meaningful path forward. 

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Join us in The Good Food CFO Community

From accidental entrepreneur to confident business owner: Sydney, founder of French Squirrel, reveals how she transformed her healthy snack company by confronting hard truths about pricing and profitability. 

After years of underpricing her premium date-based treats and struggling with razor-thin margins, Sydney shares the pivotal mindset shifts that helped her raise prices, say "no" to unprofitable opportunities, and put her business health first. She candidly discusses overcoming people-pleasing tendencies, learning to be transparent with retailers about costs, and finding manufacturing partners who believe in her vision. 

This eye-opening conversation challenges common assumptions about food business margins and scale, offering valuable lessons for founders about sustainable growth. Sydney's journey proves that understanding your numbers and staying true to your risk tolerance can lead to better business decisions – and sometimes even increased sales after raising prices.

Connect with French Squirrel

Website: French Squirrel

Instagram: @frenchsquirrel.co and @sydney_kw 

Tiktok: @frenchsquirrel.co 

LinkedIn: Sydney Karmes-Wainer

Join The Good Food CFO Community: 

Follow us on Instagram: @thegoodfoodcfo 

Connect on LinkedIn: @sarahdelevan 

Watch on YouTube: @thegoodfoodcfo 

Become a Member: BABOYOT

In this value-packed episode of The Good Food CFO podcast, we tackle three critical business questions asked by our BABOYOT Members.  First, we reveal why your cash flow tools might not be delivering results (hint: it's probably not the tool's fault!). Then, we dive into a step-by-step guide for analyzing customer profitability – essential knowledge for any business owner wondering if their biggest customers are actually their most profitable. Finally, we explore how to evaluate new retail opportunities, from local collectives to e-commerce platforms, breaking down the real costs and considerations before making commitments. 

Plus, we’re announcing our latest Book Club Selection! 

Join The Good Food CFO Community: 

Follow us on Instagram: @thegoodfoodcfo 

Connect on LinkedIn: @sarahdelevan 

Watch on YouTube: @thegoodfoodcfo 

Become a Member: BABOYOT

This week on The Good Food CFO podcast, we explore financial benchmarks for CPG brands, emphasizing that many common questions about business finances often lead to the answer 'it depends.'  

Sarah discusses the importance of understanding individual business contexts rather than relying solely on industry standards, challenges prevalent beliefs in the food industry such as the notion that founders must sell their businesses to achieve financial success, and encourages founders to create unique business models that align with their values and goals, and breaks free from conventional expectations.

From Our News Segment:

Lexington Bakes Taking Transparency to the Next Level

Join The Good Food CFO Community: 

Follow us on Instagram: @thegoodfoodcfo 

Connect on LinkedIn: @sarahdelevan 

Watch on YouTube: @thegoodfoodcfo 

Become a Member: BABOYOT

In this BABOYOT episode of The Good Food CFO podcast Sarah chats with Keesha, the vibrant founder of Live Loud Foods, a brand that’s redefining the nut market with bold, unique flavors. Keesha shares her fascinating journey from information systems engineer to culinary entrepreneur, highlighting the challenges of launching a food business, including crucial financial insights and marketing strategies.

She emphasizes the importance of gathering customer feedback and adapting products for success while staying true to her mantra: "live your bold, authentic life." As we explore her mission to create impact beyond profit, you'll gain valuable insights into the intersection of food, finance, and brand identity.

Don’t miss this inspiring episode—tune in to learn how Keesha is making delicious waves in the culinary world!

And remember to subscribe and leave us a review!

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Join us in The Good Food CFO Community 

Financial Modeling helps build financially successful businesses. But what if your model doesn’t match reality?! 

Sarah and Producer Chelsea are discussing the importance of regularly comparing your models to your actual business outcomes, how to identify if your model doesn’t match reality (because as you’ll hear it is not always obvious!) and, of course, what to do about it.  

Sarah shares a recent instance where she recognized that a founder's model and reality weren’t matching up, how a Good Food Founder identified that labor costs were higher than modeled causing profit margin and cash flow issues, and the steps she’s taking to get her business back on track. 

Whether you’re a modeling expert or novice, this episode provides valuable insights for aligning your theoretical models with real-world data so you can make informed decisions, mitigate risks, and position your business for long-term success.

From Our News Segment

Farm Stops Create New Markets for Small Farms

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Join us in The Good Food CFO Community 

Stay Connected!

Instagram: @TheGoodFoodCFOYouTube: @thegoodfoodcfo

Join us in The Good Food CFO Community 

There were a lot of “hot takes” on the recent PepsiCo acquisition of Siete Foods, a popular brand known for its grain-free tortillas and snacks. In this episode, Sarah offers her nuanced perspective, explores the reactions from various groups, including consumers, industry experts, and other founders, and discusses how the challenges and limitations of the CPG industry, coupled with the influence of investors and advisors create a system that is driving toward complete industry consolidation. 

We ask the question, how do we break the consolidation cycle? Explore the idea of rethinking what success looks like for good food businesses, and advocate for a reimagined food industry model that prioritizes financial viability, community impact, and sustainability, rather than national market share. Tune in to hear Sarah’s full take!  

What advice would you get from a CPG Operations Expert  that believes in building a business on your own terms (BABOYOT), and enhancing productivity to do more of what you love, rather than simply doing more?

Sarah invited CPG Operational Expert, Jessi Freitag to the show to find out.

Jessi is an operations and project management consultant helping CPG businesses get organized and scale. She’s also the former host of the Startup CPG podcast and has successfully led businesses from startup through growth while managing operations and teams. 

Jessi is shedding light on how well-organized operations and effective information sharing can transform your business and foster a vibrant company culture with happy employees and improved financial outcomes. She also shares that despite current cultural pressures to “automate everything” there are benefits to doing some things the old fashioned way. 

Through real-life examples Jessi shares practical advice and invaluable insights for avoiding common pitfalls when implementing new tools and systems, how simple file management strategies and team check-ins can save time, money and a lot of frustration, and her top picks for file sharing, project management, CRMs and more. 

Connect with Jessi:

Website: jessifreitag.com

LinkedIn: Jessi Freitag

Listen to Jessi’s Podcast: Iroh’s Corner

Stay Connected!

Instagram: @TheGoodFoodCFOYouTube: @thegoodfoodcfo

Join us in The Good Food CFO Community