In this episode of R&D Radio, hosted by food scientist Adam Yee, Adam sits down with Guru Hari Khalsa, founder of Guru Food Design — a product development and innovation consultancy helping CPG brands move from creative product vision to commercially scalable food and beverage products. Guru has over 40 years of experience in food and beverage product development, food science, manufacturing scale-up, and innovation, with experience across brands like Yogi Tea, Trader Joe’s, Kraft, IQBAR, and more. Guru’s path started with a love of cooking, biology, and curiosity about how things are made. After beginning on the culinary side of food, he moved into production, food science, stability, packaging, and large-scale manufacturing — building a career around the challenge of taking something that tastes great in a kitchen and making it work at commercial scale. Adam and Guru get into all of it — why consumer research matters more than founder passion alone, how to think about cost of goods from the very beginning, why building a product platform is more powerful than building one product, and how founders can follow science to spot future trends before they become mainstream. Guru also shares examples from Yogi Tea, Trader Joe’s, plant-based mousse, and the microbiome space to explain what great product development looks like in practice. Listen in as they cover: ● Guru’s path from biology and cooking to food production, food science, and product development ● The difference between making food in a kitchen, a restaurant, and a packaged product that needs shelf life ● Why most early food founders underestimate marketing, sales, and consumer validation ● Why friends and family feedback can be dangerous if it is the only research you rely on ● How founders can run scrappy consumer testing without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars ● Why you should formulate with your cost of goods target from the very beginning ● How to balance formula, nutrition, packaging, manufacturing, and price point at the same time ● Why successful CPG brands should think in terms of product platforms, not just individual products ● How Guru helped create Yogi Tea’s Perfect Energy platform with caffeine, herbs, and L-theanine ● How Trader Joe’s cereal platforms became long-lasting store staples ● Why innovation should come from the platform, not just the flavor ● Why Guru is excited about microbiome-focused food platforms and where the science is heading ● Why founders should follow the science before consumer trends become obvious ● Why educating consumers is expensive — and why the market has to be ready for your idea Whether you are a founder trying to scale your first food product, a CPG operator thinking through formulation and manufacturing, or someone trying to understand how great product development actually works, this episode is packed with practical advice from someone who has spent decades helping brands turn ideas into commercially viable products. Episode Links: Guru Food Design Website: https://www.gurufooddesign.com Guru Hari on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guru-hari-khalsa-52658a28/ Don’t forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com. Show Links: Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)Join the Startup CPG Slack community (35K+ members and growing!)Follow @startupcpgVisit host Adam's Linkedin Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.comEpisode music by Super Fantastics Ready for honest product feedback? Join Startup CPG's Founders & Formulators event on July 12 and connect directly with leading food scientists and product developers. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/startup-cpg-founders-formulators-july-2026-tickets-1989688128754
