Brand Start Goes Healthy - Brand Development for Better-for-You Food and Beverage CPG Podcast Brand Start

Allison Cayne launched her CPG product in Fresh Direct and sold out in 4 hours. She credits this success to how she has built a customer base that has a deeply rooted relationship with her brand.


It's not only about growing their email list to 70,000 subscribers but creating that genuine relationship with consumers that lasts for a long time. Listen to this episode to learn: 

1) How to make your customers feel connected with your brand?

2) How do you achieve a sold-out launch?

3) Why making your audience part of the brand process important?

4) What are the CPG foundations for growth and scale?

5) How do you handle regrets as a CPG founder? 


Learn more about Ali and her brand at https://havenskitchen.com/. 

P.S. If you're struggling to drive product trials and you want to strengthen your product positioning, I may be the guy to help. I'm opening my CPG Brand Consulting program for strat-ups and emerging CPG founders. Get on a 30-minute discovery call to see if we're fit to work together. Sign up here: https://calendly.com/leogrape/cpgbrand. 

Being a CPG founder is tough. It takes courage, business acumen, and mental fortitude to succeed. This conversation is both insightful and vulnerable, uncovering not only the business side of CPG but also the realities of being a founder.



In this episode, Leonard is joined by Joe Hill, co-founder of One Planet Pizza, who opened up about his ups and downs in building his company alongside his dad.


Listen to this episode to learn: 

1) Why is testing and failing a critical part of CPG success?

2) What's the #1 challenge to expect when starting a CPG brand?

3) Why scaling down is a growth strategy?

4) What should be your #1 priority as a CPG founder?

5) What does CPG survival truly mean? 

Learn more about Joe and his brand at https://oneplanetpizza.com/. 

If you find this podcast helpful, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating. 

P.S. If you're struggling to drive product trials and you want to strengthen your product positioning, I may be the guy to help. I'm opening my CPG Brand Consulting program for start-ups and emerging CPG founders. Get on a 30-minute discovery call to see if we're fit to work together. Sign up here: https://calendly.com/leogrape/cpgbrand. 

85% of CPGs fail after two years. One of the main reasons is the inability to generate awareness and drive product trials. 
In this episode, Leonard talks to Hank Watt, CEO of Nature's Wild Berry, a Shark Tank brand that's been growing in the past 8 years, who shared how they pivoted their marketing game to drive more awareness and reach more customers.


Listen to this episode to learn: 

1) What's the importance of driving product trials? 
2) How to be more effective with your marketing?

3) Why it's important to have a high-margin product?

4) How to get investment from Shark Tank?

5) How to build a brand that people love?


Learn more about Hank and his product at www.natureswildberry.com. 

If you find this podcast helpful, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating.



P.S.  Get your FREE guide that helps you increase your website conversion rate by downloading your copy of The Complete Playbook to Creating a Killer CPG Website that Converts at www.thevineyardbc.com/freeplaybook.

Driving product trials is a key to success for any CPG company. It's foundational for growth for CPG start-ups, emerging CPGs, and even CPGs that are in growth mode. But how do you get more product trials in such a competitive industry? 

In this episode, Leonard is joined by Kevin Smith, a CPG founder and fellow Brand Development Expert who's the CEO of SmashBrand, to talk about the importance of branding and product positioning in achieving CPG success. 

Listen to this episode to learn: 

1) What's the #1 factor in driving CPG product trials?

2) Why is brand development at the center of CPG success?

3) How do you find your product differentiation to build a compelling brand?

4) What are the common CPG branding mistakes that you must avoid?

5) How do you create a packaging design that boosts product sales? 


There are so many more insights that you can learn from this conversation

This is probably the most in-depth brand development episode in the entire podcast so be sure to listen to it until the end. 

Learn more about Kevin and his company at www.smashbrand.com. 

P.S. Get your FREE guide that helps you increase your website conversion rate by downloading your copy of The Complete Playbook to Creating a Killer CPG Website that Converts at www.thevineyardbc.com/freeplaybook.

Finding product-market fit in the CPG space is a critical component of success for any CPG brand. It's how you know that you've reached a point where there's promising demand for your product, your marketing is working, and your sales are growing.


In this episode, Leonard is joined by fellow CPG expert, Jordan Buckner, who's a former CPG founder himself, to talk about how CPG founders can be more strategic and efficient in finding product-market fit. 

Listen to this episode to learn:


1) What are the key steps in finding product market fit?

2) How do you create a product with the customers in mind?

3) What are the 2 ideal audience types for emerging CPG brands?

4) What's the downside of taking investors' money?

5) How do you manage the emotional toll of running a CPG? 


Jordan also shared an amazing product-market fit tool that you can download here: https://www.foodbevy.com/product-market-fit-calculator/. You can learn more about Jordan and his businesses at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanbuckner/. 


P.S. Do you have conversion challenges for your CPG website? Then you need our new guide called The Complete Playbook in Creating a Killer CPG Website that Converts to help you increase your website conversion rates. Get your FREE copy at www.thevineyardbc.com/freeplaybook.

BTR Nation started as a DTC better-for-you protein bar brand. When scaling, they expanded into retail and grew their door count and distribution channels by 300% at a rapid phase. 


Leonard talked to Ashley Nickelsen, its founder & CEO, who shared her journey from getting the product idea when both her parents were diagnosed with a rare form of cancer to scaling it to a $1,000,000+ brand.

Listen to this conversation to learn:

1) How do you differentiate your product in a saturated category?

2) What's the key to succeeding in DTC and Amazon?

3) How do you scale your retail door count and distribution channels?

4) What's the number 1 metric when getting on the shelves?

5) Do branding and marketing really yield ROI?
Consider subscribing if you find this podcast helpful. 

Learn more about Ashley and support her brand at https://www.btrnation.com/.