Shelf Help: The Tactical CPG Podcast

Adam Steinberg
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Entrepreneurship

If you’ve ever thought, "Why doesn’t anyone talk about this in CPG?", this is the podcast for you. Host, Adam Steinberg, co-founder of KitPrint, interviews CPG leaders to uncover the real-world tactics, strategies, and behind-the-scenes insights that really move the needle.

  1. 19h ago

    Scaling Mozzarella Sticks from Stadiums to Conventional Freeze Aisles | Matt Gallira, Big Mozz

    On this episode, we're joined by Matt Gallira, Founder & CEO of Big Mozz - the premium mozzarella stick brand that started as a stadium and restaurant food service business before eventually landing in the freezer aisle. We get into how Matt went from handmade pasta sauces to a Brooklyn pop-up tent, the in-store sauce demo where he watched a cheesemaker stretch mozzarella and he asked to work for free. Matt breaks down the original recipe and why fresh garlic one thing he won't let a co-man swap for a dehydrated version. Matt touches on why Big Mozz launched food service first: a COVID pivot, operator-first selling to restaurants and stadiums, pitching Sysco category managers who already carry 10 mozzarella sticks, and why food service now supports the whole business. We also dig into the jump to retail, from Wakefern to Whole Foods nationwide, reformulating for home ovens, how too many TPRs trained shoppers to wait for a yellow tag, the new packaging built to read through a frosty freezer door, and innovating around usage occasions instead of flavors alone. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🍝 From handmade pasta sauce to a Smorgasburg pop-up stand 🚐 A van with 375,000 miles and a 150-person catering operation 🧀 Learning to stretch mozzarella from a North Jersey deli 🧄 Why fresh garlic is the one ingredient Matt won't compromise on 🏭 Getting co-man machines to do things they weren't built for ⏱️ The COVID pivot and the line trial that saved the company 🏟️ Launching food service first through stadium connections 🍽️ Operator-first selling and the Sysco "why do we need another one?" pitch 💰 Food service as the funding engine and top of the retail funnel 🏷️ Why too many yellow tags trained shoppers to wait 📦 Packaging built to read through a frosty freezer door 🍷 Innovating by occasion (one mozz stick and a glass of wine) 👀 Frozen brands Matt is watching (Jesse & Ben's) --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:51 – Origin story: from pasta sauce to Smorgasburg 02:56 – Growing a pop-up into a 150-person catering company 04:52 – The sauce demo that sparked Big Mozz 07:34 – Asking a North Jersey deli to work for free 08:30 – R&D and the original recipe 10:12 – Holding the line on fresh ingredients at scale 12:56 – Getting machines to do what they weren't built for 13:47 – Why Big Mozz launched food service first 14:48 – The COVID pivot and a lucky line trial 16:54 – Operator-first selling and the Sysco pitch 19:06 – Food service as the top of the retail funnel 21:29 – Food service vs. retail margins and the ground game 24:58 – The food service to retail brand flywheel 28:52 – Launching retail and reformulating for home ovens 32:54 – Driving velocity: promos, Instacart and packaging 38:44 – Innovating by occasion: nuggets, Flamin' and ranch 41:38 – Frozen brands Matt is watching --------------- Links: Big Mozz – https://bigmozz.com/ Big Mozz on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/big-mozz/ Follow Matt on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-gallira-22646529/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.  Looking to dominate the cognitive health space? Upgrade your formula with Cognizin. It’s the branded, clinically backed citicoline trusted by top innovators in supplements, foods, and beverages. Differentiate your brand today at Cognizin.com.

  2. 4d ago

    Leading Social for the Fastest-Growing CPG Brands | Adam Brown, Sircle Media

    On this episode, we're joined by Adam Brown, Founder & President of Sircle Media - the go-to social media agency for CPG brands. Adam has been in and around digital since 1999, starting Sircle in 2012 after a decade running sales and marketing in the mortgage industry. Adam walks through what it takes for social to impact retail velocity. One brand told him: move 10,000 units at Walmart and I do not care what it costs. He breaks down how his team proves that lift with control regions, geofencing and hyperlocal creator support, and why the Costco parking lot video every creative director hates keeps beating the polished stuff. He also shares the seeding math most founders never hear, one or two posts out of ten when you gift cold, and the college campus playbook he would run instead. --------------- Episode Highlights: 💡 The light bulb moment behind Sircle Media 💸 Pricing an agency at the cost of one hire ⚠️ The messy middle and the toughest year in CPG in 14 years ✂️ Why a 10% haircut beats cutting a partner 🔀 Social as a horizontal, not a vertical 📱 Two primary platforms, two secondary 🛒 What it takes for social to move retail velocity 📸 Scrappy UGC versus studio content 🎓 The college campus playbook for seeding 💳 The hot take that it is all paid now 🛍️ TikTok Shop and who it actually fits 💬 Community management as the most common miss 🔮 Trends: a return to fundamentals --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 01:05 – The light bulb moment behind Sircle Media 03:19 – Pricing an agency at the cost of one hire 04:54 – When a brand is ready for an agency 06:19 – The messy middle and the toughest year in CPG 07:47 – The 10% haircut across partners 09:37 – Social as a horizontal, not a vertical 11:59 – Two primary platforms, two secondary 14:56 – Making social drive retail velocity 18:34 – UGC versus studio when money is tight 20:00 – The college campus playbook 22:42 – Building for constant algorithm change 25:26 – The hot take that it is all paid 27:56 – TikTok Shop and who it actually fits 31:23 – Vetting influencers and creators 34:53 – Why most seeding programs flop 37:52 – Community management as table stakes 39:56 – Trends: a return to fundamentals --------------- Links: Sircle Media – https://www.sircle.me/ Follow Adam Brown on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjbrown23/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.  Looking to dominate the cognitive health space? Upgrade your formula with Cognizin. It’s the branded, clinically backed citicoline trusted by top innovators in supplements, foods, and beverages. Differentiate your brand today at Cognizin.com.

  3. Sep 30

    Six Brands, Four Exits, and the Leading Fractional CPG Firm | Eric Schnell, BeyondBrands

    On this episode, we're joined by Eric Schnell, Founder of BeyondBrands - the 40-plus partner operating group that works as a fractional management team for early stage CPG brands. Eric co-founded Steaz in 2002 and has since co-founded or helped launch Good Catch, GoodSAM, Cool Beans, and Free Bird. Eric breaks down the Quintuple Bottom Line model the firm runs on and the one test every brand they co-found has to pass: can it sit in front of any buyer and credibly claim it will be a category captain? We get into the Good Catch story, from the seafood thesis they wrote with the Good Food Institute to extrusion R&D with help from friends at Beyond Meat, a Whole Foods launch, roughly $6 million in revenue, and a full exit inside three and a half years. Eric also walks through GoodSAM, where the team built direct trade relationships with regenerative organic farmers in Colombia and brought Thrive Market onto the cap table weeks before COVID shut down retail. We also spend time talking about why most brands die from running out of capital rather than product fit, what a believable five-year plan shows an investor, the 17 seconds a shopper spends scanning a cooler door, and how freight and geography quietly eat a P&L. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🫖 Selling $30 vitamins before selling $4 organic tea 🤝 The lawyer question that turned a favor into a firm 🌱 The Quintuple Bottom Line: passion, purpose, people, planet, prosperity 🐟 Why seafood, not meat, was the plant-based white space 🏆 The category captain test every new brand has to pass 🌎 Direct trade vs fair trade with farmers in Colombia 🛒 Putting Thrive Market on the cap table right before COVID 💸 Why most brands die in year one (it is capital, not product) ⏱️ The 17-second shelf window and the rainbow effect 📦 Why packaging gets fixed two or three times in year one 📈 56 equity positions and the ESOP model behind them 🧮 What a fundable five-year plan actually shows 🚚 Freight and geography, the black hole in the middle of the P&L --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 01:06 – From $30 vitamins to $4 organic tea 02:19 – Exiting Steaz and choosing the next chapter 03:32 – The lawyer question that created BeyondBrands 04:45 – Backing pre-revenue founders nobody else would touch 06:34 – The Quintuple Bottom Line business model 08:22 – How BeyondBrands decides what to co-found 09:11 – The plant-based seafood thesis behind Good Catch 10:23 – Building flaky plant-based tuna from legumes 11:35 – Whole Foods, $6M, and a fast exit 12:48 – The category captain test 14:49 – GoodSAM, regenerative organic, and direct trade 18:38 – Thrive Market on the cap table before COVID 20:53 – Why most early brands run out of capital 24:35 – The 17-second shelf window and the rainbow effect 26:53 – 56 equity positions and the ESOP model 30:55 – What a fundable five-year plan looks like 34:37 – Freight, geography, and the P&L black hole --------------- Links: BeyondBrands – https://beyondbrands.org/ Follow Eric on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-schnell-b133a425/ BeyondBrands on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyondbrands/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.  Looking to dominate the cognitive health space? Upgrade your formula with Cognizin. It’s the branded, clinically backed citicoline trusted by top innovators in supplements, foods, and beverages. Differentiate your brand today at Cognizin.com.

  4. Sep 25

    From Board Seat to Buyer: The Alter Eco Turnaround | Keith Bearden, Alter Eco

    On this episode, we're joined by Keith Bearden, CEO of Alter Eco, No Cow and Good Karma - the Trek One Capital portfolio spanning organic Swiss-made chocolate, plant-based protein bars and flax milk. Keith previously led Yogi Tea's international division, served as CEO of Lifebrands US and American Botanicals, and spent 15 years at Dow Chemical. Keith walks through how he went from Alter Eco board member to buyer, flying to Houston to pitch his path-to-profitability plan to Trek One Capital and closing on December 22, 2023. He breaks down the three levers behind a profitable first quarter of 2024: cutting headcount and outsourcing, moving the warehouse from Oakland to Columbus, Ohio (saving over $1M a year and roughly 20 days of lead time), and cutting trade spend from about 25% of sales to 19%. We get into managing a cocoa market that more than tripled after the deal closed, a 39% tariff on Swiss imports, and Keith's bet to take a 12% price increase while competitors took 30 to 40%. We also dig into SKU rationalization without losing shelf space and why Alter Eco doesn't chase trends. Keith also shares how a moment on a granola production floor in Canada became Oat Clusters, why his CMO pushed "delicious" over "organic" and moved "Made in Switzerland" to the front of pack, and how Alter Eco hit 1,400 Publix doors on day one by putting inventory on a plane. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🍫 Alter Eco's origin and "taste is the price of admission" 🤝 From board seat to buyer: the Houston lunch that closed the deal ✂️ Turnaround lever one: headcount, outsourced QA and back office 🚚 Moving the warehouse from Oakland to Columbus, Ohio 💸 Cutting trade spend on truffles that saw no incremental lift 🔄 SKU rationalization and proactive swaps to protect shelf space 🌱 Pre-bought beans and loyal farmers through the cocoa spike 🧾 Eating a 39% tariff on Swiss-made chocolate in 2025 🏷️ The 12% price increase bet when competitors took 30 to 40% ✈️ From granola production floor to airport shelves: Oat Clusters 🇨🇭 Why "delicious" beat "organic" and put a Swiss logo on the front of pack 🛒 Landing 1,400 Publix doors on day one (and air-freighting inventory to do it) 🔮 GLP-1 tailwinds and why No Cow is built for that shopper --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 01:04 – Alter Eco's origin and three core principles 03:36 – Running three brands as one CEO 06:30 – From board member to buyer 08:54 – Turnaround lever one: headcount and outsourcing 10:20 – Moving the warehouse to Columbus, Ohio 11:20 – Cutting trade spend that wasn't driving lift 12:36 – SKU rationalization without losing shelf space 14:16 – Hedging against cocoa's price spike 16:25 – Absorbing a 39% tariff on Swiss imports 19:56 – The 12% price increase bet 22:25 – From natural into conventional grocery 23:33 – Product roadmap and not chasing trends 26:44 – Granola and the Oat Clusters origin story 29:50 – The say-do gap and why "delicious" won 32:18 – Practical Magic 2 and brand collaborations 33:27 – Scaling doors and landing 1,400 at Publix 36:02 – No Cow, GLP-1 and what Keith's watching --------------- Links: Alter Eco - https://www.alterecofoods.com/ No Cow - https://www.nocow.com/ Good Karma - https://www.goodkarmafoods.com/ Follow Keith on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-bearden-736821/ Follow me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.  Looking to dominate the cognitive health space? Upgrade your formula with Cognizin. It’s the branded, clinically backed citicoline trusted by top innovators in supplements, foods, and beverages. Differentiate your brand today at Cognizin.com.

  5. Sep 21

    Why CPG Brands Write Off Millions in Invalid Deductions | Akash Raju, Glimpse

    On this episode, we're joined by Akash Raju, Co-founder & CEO of Glimpse - the AI platform that automates deductions, revenue recovery, and cash application for CPG brands selling into retail.  Akash and his two Purdue classmates started Glimpse in 2020 as an Airbnb product placement business before hard pivoting into retail finance in 2024. Akash breaks down the split between trade and non-trade, why brands hand back 20 to 30 percent of their margin to retailers, and why one to two percent of top line revenue gets written off as invalid whether you are doing $10 million or a billion. We get into what actually breaks scaling from $20 million to $200 million, and what a finance leader should triage in their first 90 days. Akash explains why the industry missed the last decade of enterprise software entirely, why so many brands are stuck in pilot purgatory, and why he thinks real transformation starts at the data layer rather than the workflow layer. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🏠 Placing CPG products inside luxury Airbnbs 🔄 Walking away from a seven-figure business to hard pivot 🗣️ 500 brand conversations across 15 months of pivot hell 📉 Why 20 to 30 percent of margin goes to retail deductions ⚖️ Trade vs non-trade and where invalid claims hide 🏪 Why mass retailers and distributors break differently 🧾 A finance leader's first 90 days on a messy deduction book 🎯 The 4x ROI pilot and the crawl, walk, run approach 🖥️ Why CPG missed the last decade of enterprise software 🤖 Getting out of pilot purgatory with measurable ROI 🧱 Why AI transformation starts at the data layer 📦 The shipping shortage dispute, line by line 🔍 Brands he's watching (BERO, Leisure Hydration, Create) --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 01:10 – Purdue, Airbnbs, and the first business 03:01 – The hard pivot and 15 months in pivot hell 05:03 – Why deductions became the wedge 05:59 – The power imbalance between brands and retailers 08:42 – How the deduction profile changes as brands scale 09:30 – Trade vs non-trade deductions 11:42 – Concentrated retailers or death by a thousand cuts 13:44 – A finance leader's first 90 days 16:01 – The 4x ROI pilot and crawl, walk, run 17:23 – Why CPG missed the last enterprise software wave 21:04 – Getting out of pilot purgatory 24:56 – What AI transformation actually requires 27:43 – What breaks between $20M and $200M 30:15 – The shipping shortage deduction, line by line 34:52 – Trustworthy AI, human in the loop, build vs buy 37:33 – Faster, better, cheaper and the $40 deduction 39:45 – Brands he's watching and Martha Stewart's old test kitchen --------------- Links: Glimpse – https://www.tryglimpse.com/ Follow Akash on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/akash-raju/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.  Looking to dominate the cognitive health space? Upgrade your formula with Cognizin. It’s the branded, clinically backed citicoline trusted by top innovators in supplements, foods, and beverages. Differentiate your brand today at Cognizin.com.

  6. Sep 16

    Scaling a Leading Energy Drink Brand with AI | Simon Solis-Cohen, Huxley

    On this episode, we're joined by Simon Solis-Cohen, Founder of Huxley - the Minneapolis-based plant-powered energy refresher made with real fruit juice and caffeine from upcycled cascara superfruit. Simon is a chef by training who ran a wine marketing agency for years before selling it and going all in on Huxley. We dive into the pivots that got the brand here, starting with the fact that Huxley launched as a coffee company. Simon breaks down why he left the coffee behind when Huxley debuted at Expo West, and how the team went from idea to a finished can in 130 days. A big part of the conversation focuses on cascara, the upcycled coffee cherry husk that supplies Huxley's 90 milligrams of caffeine. Simon walks through why synthetic caffeine tastes bitter, why that bitterness pushes most energy brands into heavy sugar or sucralose, and why real fruit juice had to be the second ingredient in every can. We also get into the packaging story. A conventional buyer told Simon his award-winning national parks illustrations would cap Huxley at hobby scale, and he rebranded a year in rather than wait. Simon shares what that unlocked at Sprouts, where Huxley now ranks number three in velocity among nationwide energy brands, plus the new Kroger natural and organic end cap and the AI tools he built to kill hours of distributor accounting every week. --------------- Episode Highlights: ☕ Starting as a coffee company and killing it fast ⏱️ Idea to finished can in 130 days 🍒 Why cascara superfruit beats synthetic caffeine ♻️ The landfill math behind coffee cherry waste 🧪 How bitterness forces energy brands into sugar ⚡ Dosing at 90 milligrams and why that number 🥭 Making real fruit juice the second ingredient 🎨 The national parks cans and the alliteration 🛒 The buyer who said the design capped them at hobby scale 📦 Rebranding at year one instead of waiting it out 💸 Seed strapping and saying no to retailers 📈 Hitting number three velocity at Sprouts 🤖 Automating distributor remittances with AI --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:52 – Why Huxley is an energy refresher, not an energy drink 03:31 – Idea to finished can in 130 days 05:02 – The pivot away from coffee 06:58 – Dropping the coffee line at Expo West 08:34 – Choosing cascara over synthetic caffeine 09:45 – What Bai proved about coffee fruit 12:11 – The landfill problem cascara solves 15:03 – Why bitter caffeine forces brands into sugar 16:59 – Dosing at 90 milligrams 17:56 – Real fruit juice as the second ingredient 20:39 – Building the V1 brand identity 24:07 – The buyer who rejected the packaging 26:52 – Why rebrand at year one instead of waiting 29:45 – Seed strapping and saying no to retailers 32:01 – Going nationwide with Sprouts 35:48 – The Kroger natural and organic end cap 38:10 – Automating distributor remittances with AI --------------- Links: Huxley – https://drinkhuxley.com/ Follow Simon on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-solis-cohen/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.

  7. Sep 10

    How a Functional Ice Cube Brand Landed Sprouts and Wegmans | Belle Robinson, ROXII Supercube

    On this episode, we're joined by Belle Robinson, Founder of ROXII Supercube - the functional wellness brand putting superfoods, collagen and electrolytes into nutrient-infused ice cubes that melt into whatever you're drinking.  Belle is a certified nutritional therapist who spent years freezing superfoods into her own water before turning that habit into a four SKU lineup now sitting in Sprouts and Wegmans. We dive into why frozen was the right format for a functional product and what it cost to get there. Belle breaks down the realities of a cold chain business, why ROXII went straight to retail instead of building a D2C audience first, and what that decision took away in consumer learning. Belle walks through the formulation process across nutrition, taste and format, and why narrowing to four functions was the hardest part of development. We get into pricing at just under $3 a cube in Sprouts against $5 immunity shots, everyday low price at Wegmans, and the question every single buyer asks in every pitch about where a functional ice cube actually belongs in the store. We also cover Expo West, how Belle turns skeptical buyers into believers, the brand ambassador and pop-up program driving trial around Sprouts stores, and what it takes to run a US brand from London while staying bootstrapped. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🧊 Turning a messy powder routine into a frozen cube ❄️ Why frozen locks in nutrients better than fresh 🚫 The D2C learning curve ROXII skipped by going straight to retail 🧪 Formulating across nutrition, taste and format 📦 The Expo West buyer who thought it was a smoothie cube ✏️ Where the ROXII name came from (on the rocks) 💸 Pricing a cube against $5 immunity shots 🛒 Finding a home in the frozen wellness set 🤝 Turning skeptical buyers into believers 🧭 Merchandising frozen around occasions instead of formats 📈 Landing Sprouts and Wegmans nationally 🚶 Brand ambassadors and pop-ups driving trial 🔮 Brands and trends Belle is watching --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:48 – Origin story 01:41 – Why frozen and what it does for nutrients 03:10 – The trade-offs of frozen and skipping D2C 04:11 – Advice for launching a new product format 05:38 – Formulation and R&D 07:47 – Building the brand identity 08:53 – The Expo West buyer who thought it was a smoothie cube 09:30 – Where the ROXII name came from 10:48 – Pricing against shots, powders and RTDs 11:46 – Where ROXII sits in the frozen set 13:30 – Turning skeptical buyers into believers 15:39 – Redesigning the frozen aisle around occasions 16:43 – Landing Sprouts and Wegmans 18:05 – Driving velocity with ambassadors and pop-ups 19:26 – Running a US brand from London 20:58 – Bootstrapping and the fundraising question 21:31 – Brands and trends Belle is watching --------------- Links: ROXII Supercube – https://roxiisupercube.com/ Follow Belle on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/belle-robinson-672a59261/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.

  8. Sep 7

    The First National Egg Brand To Stop Culling Male Chicks | Jasen Urena, NestFresh

    On this episode, we're joined by Jasen Urena, Vice President at NestFresh, the humane egg brand that just became the first national brand in the US to move its entire retail lineup to in-ovo sexed Humanely Hatched eggs.  Jasen has spent 20 years with the company across marketing, sales, and operations. He breaks down what in-ovo sexing actually is, why only about 10% of Americans know what happens to male chicks at the hatchery, and how NestFresh brought AAT's Cheggy technology over from Europe and scaled it with Hy-Line North America. Accuracy is now running above 97% in live production, and NestFresh did not raise a single retailer price to pay for the transition. We get into the economics, the certification stack behind the claims, and why Jasen refuses to chase the easiest certifier. He also walks through the terminology problem in the egg aisle, why radical transparency beats polished marketing, and how NestFresh moves velocity with packaging, shelf tags, carton inserts, and TPRs when most retailers will not let you touch the set. We also dig into the 2024 packaging redesign, the six-month social teaser campaign that brought shoppers along with it, and the unusual asset-only structure behind the New Barn Organics acquisition. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🥚 The 1976 founding story and 50 years of the business 🐥 What in-ovo sexing actually is and why it matters 🌍 Bringing Cheggy over from Europe and scaling it for the US 📈 Accuracy above 97% in live production 🤝 The partner stack: AAT, Hy-Line, HFAC, ASPCA, Innovate Animal Ag 💸 Why NestFresh held retailer pricing flat through the transition 🔁 Why in-ovo sexing follows the cage-free playbook 🏷️ The terminology problem in the egg aisle 🔍 Radical transparency as an education strategy ✅ Not all certifiers are equal (and why ROA took 18 months) 🛒 In-store levers when retailers will not let you touch the set 🎨 The 2024 redesign and the six-month social teaser rollout 🔭 Brands and trends Jasen is watching --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:54 – NestFresh origin story and the 1976 founding 03:19 – Consolidation and the small family farm model 04:29 – What in-ovo sexing actually is 06:03 – Why male chicks get culled on day one 07:23 – The hardest part of scaling the technology 09:02 – The surprise: accuracy above 97% 09:44 – AAT, Cheggy, and Hy-Line North America 10:30 – The economics of in-ovo sexing 11:59 – The first domino and the cage-free parallel 13:15 – Why retailer prices did not go up 14:26 – Consumer confusion in the egg aisle 17:29 – Radical transparency as an education strategy 18:57 – Choosing certifiers and the Humanely Hatched trademark 23:32 – In-store strategy and shelf levers 26:00 – Promoting without eroding premium 27:00 – The 2024 packaging redesign 31:51 – Inside the New Barn Organics acquisition 36:14 – Brands and trends worth watching --------------- Links: NestFresh – https://nestfresh.com/ Follow Jasen on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasen-urena-27179013/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.

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If you’ve ever thought, "Why doesn’t anyone talk about this in CPG?", this is the podcast for you. Host, Adam Steinberg, co-founder of KitPrint, interviews CPG leaders to uncover the real-world tactics, strategies, and behind-the-scenes insights that really move the needle.

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