Unpackaged Goods

Jonathan Deeter
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Investing

Keep a pulse on the people and news shaping retail, health, wellness, and consumer packaged goods.On Unpackaged Goods, Jonathan Deeter talks with the founders, operators, and investors behind consumer brands—and breaks down the industry’s latest news, deals, and trends. From the decisions that get a product onto shelves to the forces changing what consumers buy, the show connects the stories behind the brands with the business around them.For anyone building, backing, or simply curious about what’s next in consumer goods.Presented by Deet’s Eats Media, a Pickle Advisors company.

  1. 5d ago

    Kroger Listed Them Nationwide Without a Single Meeting | Bakeful’s Tony Davis

    Kroger approved Bakeful for a nationwide listing before they'd had a single meeting or phone call. Tony Davis, founder and CEO of Bakeful, on rebuilding the sweet baked goods aisle. Plus this week in CPG: Constellation's SpikedAde earnout, PepsiCo's split year, and the deals where control was the point. IN THE NEWS (every story is in The Deeter Digest) - Constellation buys SpikedAde: $75M at close and up to $278M more over five years, plus a second check into Hiyo - What an earnout really means, from someone who's lived through one - PepsiCo: the world is buying, North America isn't - MadeGood buys itself back, Stride takes a majority of Clio, Boots splits the keys - Rapid fire: NMN goes mass market, PowerCrème, Rip Van's new CEO, Ola Sol's Humo - The hot take: every deal has two numbers THE INTERVIEW: TONY DAVIS, BAKEFUL Tony built Nick's Ice Cream's U.S. business from zero and sold on QVC in the '90s. Now Bakeful's Donutful, Muffinful and Brownieful are in 4,000 doors across 50 states, with Kroger, H-E-B, Walmart, Target and Hy-Vee coming to him. Find Bakeful: bakeful.com CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 2:00 Presented by Dough 3:17 Constellation buys its future 6:41 What an earnout really means 8:00 PepsiCo: the world is buying 9:09 The deals where control was the point 11:30 Rapid fire 13:40 The hot take 14:43 Interview: Tony Davis, founder & CEO of Bakeful 15:15 Building Nick's Ice Cream in the U.S. 17:46 QVC, infomercials and the first DTC 22:18 Why baked goods: Charlie Brown's Brownies 23:48 The forgotten $25B aisle 26:50 Clean label: baked, not fried, 25% less sugar 30:22 Selling donuts in the LA gas lines 33:23 The lineup: mini donuts, two to a pack 34:53 Wegmans on the first call 35:21 Ralphs, then Kroger nationwide without a meeting 37:07 H-E-B: "When are you doing muffins?" 38:08 Walmart pulls Muffinful forward 40:09 Target, Brownieful and the Bakeful master brand 42:41 Packaging that doesn't look like the 1960s 47:12 Hy-Vee: "How fast can you ship?" 48:15 Creators and a 10.5M-view TikTok 49:16 Highs and lows: fundraising 52:47 Exits, Kind bars and a forever brand 55:49 Where to find Bakeful 57:24 Sign-off This episode is brought to you by DoughCC, an authorized Square reseller helping businesses get set up, trained and supported locally, with no upfront cost on your first hardware unit for qualifying businesses: https://www.dough.cc/partner/pickle/ 🥣 Subscribe to The Deeter Digest (every Monday): https://deetseatsnyc.substack.com/ 🎙️ Unpackaged Goods on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6moZEYjORSb5XZ7LVu8b3f?si=6c656c85e78e487a 📸 Follow @deetseatsnyc on Instagram, TikTok and X 🥒 Pickle Advisors: pickleadvisors.com If you like the show, leave a review on Apple or Spotify. #UnpackagedGoods #CPG #Bakeful #FounderInterview #Constellation #SpikedAde #PepsiCo #MadeGood #Kroger #ConsumerBrands

  2. Oct 9

    Why Oura Walked Away From Its IPO + Afternoon Toast's Kimmy Pace on Building a Brand Nights and Weekends

    This week on Unpackaged Goods: why Oura walked away from an IPO with demand to spare, plus Kimmy Pace, founder of Afternoon Toast, on building a brand on nights and weekends. In the news: - Oura postpones its IPO despite orders reportedly 4x the shares on offer, and why profit buys you the right to wait - Wella's debt and Shein's rough public debut - Dose, Manucurist and Stride: selling from strength - California's non-ultraprocessed seal and AB 2030 supplement rules - Galleri's FDA panel and Neko Health's $499 body scan - Rapid fire: tariff cuts, Boots, Something & Nothing, Confido, Cheez-It Protein, Lucali x Nonna's, Bizzy and The Outset Then Kimmy Pace joins the show. She still works full time in consulting. Afternoon Toast is her nights-and-weekends build: a ready-to-drink roasted barley and ginger tea with no caffeine and no sugar, made for the 3 p.m. slump. The idea started while she was reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, roasting barley on her stove to sip alongside the book. We talk about: - Turning a kitchen recipe into a light-roast product, and finding a roasting partner who usually roasts barley for beer - Why she's skipping traditional grocery for now and selling into Brooklyn cafes, sandwich shops, yoga and Pilates studios - Calling ahead instead of dropping off samples, and why "politely persistent" got her on the shelf - Running pop-ups near the stores that carry her, so attention turns into a sale - Building the brand with strategy first and visual identity second - Going solo without doing it alone: advisors, community and AI agents - What's next: more New York, then California, plus roasted barley and buckwheat SKUs Find Afternoon Toast at drinkafternoontoast.com and @drinkafternoontoast. This episode is brought to you by DoughCC, an authorized Square reseller helping businesses get set up, trained, and supported locally, with no upfront cost on your first hardware unit for qualifying businesses. https://www.dough.cc/partner/pickle/ 🥣 The Deeter Digest: https://deetseatsnyc.substack.com/ 🎙️ https://open.spotify.com/show/6moZEYjORSb5XZ7LVu8b3f?si=6c656c85e78e487a 📸 @deetseatsnyc 🥒 pickleadvisors.com https://www.dough.cc/partner/pickle/

  3. Sep 30

    Graza Hires Lazard, Costco Goes Kirkland on Electrolytes + The Founder Making Sparkling Bone Broth (Marro)

    This week in CPG: Graza hires Lazard to explore a sale, Costco launches a Kirkland electrolyte, and the Whole Foods LEAP class is announced. Then Nick Foreste, founder of Marrō, on making the first cold, canned, sparkling bone broth. IN THE NEWS (every story is in The Deeter Digest) - Graza hires Lazard and is reportedly seeking up to $600M - Costco turns electrolytes into a Kirkland product, and what it means for the brand behind them - Hoplark and The Outset: when fame and being early don't hold - Brands moving toward brand: Before, Something & Nothing, Ember - Deals, funding and launches, including Whole Foods' LEAP program, which picked 10 brands from 2,000+ applicants - The hot take: commodity vs. brand THE INTERVIEW: NICK FORESTE, MARRŌ Nick Foreste, founder of Marrō, on what a sparkling bone broth is, going from a leg injury to a 100-mile race to a beverage company, and the skull on the can. He also covers using AI in the business, the retail path from Expo West to real grocery, and why most beverage brands last under two years. Follow Marrō: drinkmarro.com CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome + housekeeping 2:44 Graza hires Lazard 5:24 Costco turns electrolytes into a Kirkland product 7:55 When the brand doesn't hold: Hoplark + The Outset 9:48 Brands moving toward brand: Before, Something & Nothing, Ember 12:37 Deals: Crosta Mollica, Sazerac, Roja 14:26 Funding: Bird&Be, Tiny Health, quick hits 16:24 Launches + Whole Foods LEAP 18:36 Data + distribution: Milo's, Lemme, ALDI, Final Boss Sour 19:51 The hot take: commodity vs. brand 22:53 Interview with Nick Foreste, founder of Marrō 23:11 What is Marrō? The first bone broth made to be sipped cold 25:18 From a leg injury to a 100-mile race 27:34 Diet, family + fatherhood 28:58 The attorney who became a beverage founder 30:30 Falling into CPG 32:05 Meet Randy Bandana, the skull on the can 33:42 How Marrō uses AI 36:48 Who is on the team 39:09 Year one: learn the customer before pressing the gas 41:39 Retail: from Expo West to real grocery 43:27 Is it sparkling protein or sparkling bone broth? 45:26 Where Marrō belongs on the shelf 47:18 The odds for beverage brands 48:52 The mission: the next apple cider vinegar 49:49 Where to find Marrō 50:39 Sign-off 🥣 Subscribe to The Deeter Digest (every Monday): https://deetseatsnyc.substack.com/ 🎙️ Unpackaged Goods on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6moZEYjORSb5XZ7LVu8b3f?si=6c656c85e78e487a 📸 Follow @deetseatsnyc on Instagram, TikTok and X 🥒 Pickle Advisors: pickleadvisors.com If you like the show, leave a review on Apple or Spotify. #UnpackagedGoods #CPG #Marro #BoneBroth #FounderInterview #Graza #Costco #Kirkland #ConsumerBrands #BrandStrategy

  4. Sep 23

    From Locker Rooms to Retail: NextFoods CEO Marc Seguin on Cheribundi & GoodBelly

    What does it take to turn a product trusted by athletes into a brand more consumers discover on the shelf? Jonathan Deeter sits down with Marc Seguin, CEO of NextFoods, the company behind Cheribundi and GoodBelly, to unpack the decisions behind their next stage of growth. Marc explains how Cheribundi built its sports-team business, why availability matters as much as awareness, and how NextFoods is bringing two brands together under one team. They also explore GoodBelly’s innovation pipeline, college-athlete partnerships, and building a shared vision inside a private equity-backed company. In this episode: • Taking Cheribundi from the locker room into broader retail distribution • Developing products the team actually wants to use • GoodBelly’s plans for functional beverages and postbiotics • Turning college-athlete relationships into affiliate partnerships • Building a team that believes in the business Before the interview, Jonathan breaks down the week’s consumer news, including Real Good Foods, L’Oréal, Puig, Diageo, and the latest funding and product launches. The Marc Seguin interview begins at 14:14. Unpackaged Goods covers the people and news shaping consumer health, wellness, and packaged goods—for founders, operators, and investors. Follow the show, leave a review, and subscribe to The Deeter Digest for more consumer-brand news. Hosted by Jonathan Deeter. Presented by Deet’s Eats Media.

  5. Sep 15

    Nestlé Dumps $1.2B of Vitamins + Organic Traditions on Waiting 25 Years to Raise

    Nature's Bounty is in more than one in five American households. It's the second-largest vitamin brand in the country. Nestlé just sold it, plus six sibling brands, for less than a year of their combined revenue. Two days later, a company that didn't exist two years ago raised at seven and a half times revenue. Plus: an interview with Ally Mamalider, the second-generation CEO of Organic Traditions. THIS WEEK IN CPG Nestlé sold seven mainstream vitamin brands to Yellow Wood Partners for $1 billion. They did $1.2 billion in 2025 sales, and Nestlé paid $5.75 billion for The Bountiful Company in 2021. Nature's Bounty isn't broken. It sold for less than a year of sales because it's for everybody, which increasingly means it's for nobody in particular. Medici Brands raised $250M at a $2.25 billion valuation. David launched DTC in September 2024 with one product. It's now in 35,000+ stores. Plus the two lawsuits nobody is covering. Keurig Dr Pepper is selling its Chobani stake back for $800 million while Chobani buys KDP's Allentown plant. Barilla is acquiring GOODLES and keeping the 73-person team and Jen Zeszut as CEO. Same structure Ferrero used with Purely Elizabeth two weeks ago. Plus: the Liquid Death founder makes canned sparkling wine, Wella files a $500M IPO, Campbell's cuts 13% of its workforce, and Curie is up 29% at Walmart since changing its label. INTERVIEW: ALLY MAMALIDER, ORGANIC TRADITIONS Organic Traditions started because Ally's father had undiagnosed Crohn's disease and couldn't get answers from doctors. He started traveling to India, Peru and Japan to study how those cultures had used superfoods for thousands of years. Within a year he said he looked and felt like a different person, and in 2000 he launched the brand in Toronto, building it store by store. Ally went to Expo West for the first time at eleven. She joined the business in 2017, deliberately waiting until she'd built outside perspective, because adding value inside a family company is harder than people think. We covered: Why they took zero outside money for 25 years. No friends and family round, no venture. Just bank operating lines and cash flow until this year's $10.5 million Series A. How she built an advisory board first, without dilution, to get strategic clarity before raising, and why she deliberately avoided PE and VC when she finally did. The moment on her first investor call that told her she'd found the right partner. He interrupted the pitch to say slow down, I like to get to know the person I'm potentially working with. Rebranding a 25-year-old package. The mark had barely changed since 2000, and the goal was keeping the credibility while making it legible to a new audience. Why fiber is the next protein. Everyone counts their protein and forgets fiber, and for GLP-1 users that gap causes real digestive problems. Their Fiber Flow platform is the answer, and she thinks fiber gets added to everything next. Being category captain in Canada with six feet of shelf and a challenger in the US. Plus how she's choosing which of 100 SKUs actually go to American retail. And a genuinely useful take on AI: they brought on a fractional head of AI, trained the whole team rather than siloing it in ops and finance, and use it for reporting, insights, inventory and demand planning. But not for creative. Her prediction is that people are about to get very fatigued of AI verbiage. 🥣 Subscribe to The Deeter Digest: https://deetseatsnyc.substack.com/ 🎙️ Unpackaged Goods on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6moZEYjORSb5XZ7LVu8b3f?si=6c656c85e78e487a 📸 @deetseatsnyc on Instagram/TikTok 🥒 Pickle Advisors: pickleadvisors.com #UnpackagedGoods #CPG #OrganicTraditions #Superfoods #Nestle #YellowWood #MediciBrands #DavidProtein #Chobani #Barilla #GOODLES #FounderInterview #ConsumerBrands #Fiber #GLP1

  6. Sep 4

    Vegas, Target, and a Gummy That Looks Like a Condom | Kevin Mai, UNDO

    Pre-alcohol supplements have existed for over a decade. Walk into any 7-Eleven in Tokyo or Seoul and you'll find racks of them. Nobody in Asia needs convincing. So why does nobody at your fantasy football draft take one? Kevin Mai's answer is that the category solved the problem and then packaged it wrong. Vials, shots, and jars of pills make you the buzzkill at the party. UNDO built a gummy in a foil pouch that looks like a condom, ran with "practice safe drinking," and turned the product itself into the conversation. Kevin is a co-founder of UNDO, which just closed a $1 million seed round and launched in nearly 900 Target stores. In this conversation: Why DHM works and why that was never the bottleneck. The category had a real solution and a real pain point for ten years, and adoption still didn't happen. The party mechanics. Kevin walks through what actually happens when you bring UNDO to a party: the first question, the education, the wrappers on the table, the friend who shows up late with FOMO, and the group chat the next morning. Ten customers in one night. Why the payoff loop is unusual. Most supplements ask you to trust the process for a month. You find out if UNDO worked in about ten hours. There's no placebo to hide behind. Vegas as a proving ground. UNDO launched at Encore Beach Club, sampled 5,000 people, then got into Wynn, then MGM. A six-month test across MGM's properties ended in six weeks. Retail before DTC. Kevin spent 15 years in performance marketing and built a product made to go viral on social, then accidentally went retail-first through 150 Nashville convenience stores. He explains why distribution in contextual environments worked as marketing. Saying yes to Target turned a bootstrapped company into a venture-backed one overnight. The round was 70% subscribed almost immediately, and the main criteria for the rest wasn't strategic value. It was whether the investor would bring the product to a party. Plus: what he'd say to skeptics, and how three co-founders who didn't know each other ended up building this together. 🥣 Subscribe to The Deeter Digest: https://deetseatsnyc.substack.com/ 🎙️ Unpackaged Goods on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6moZEYjORSb5XZ7LVu8b3f?si=6c656c85e78e487a 📸 @deetseatsnyc on Instagram/TikTok 🥒 Pickle Advisors: pickleadvisors.com #UnpackagedGoods #CPG #UNDO #ConsumerBrands #Target #Supplements #FounderInterview #Retail #BrandStrategy #DTC

  7. Aug 29

    The $23.8 Million Pint: Rebel Creamery Files Chapter 11

    Five weeks ago I said the Van Leeuwen trade dress ruling was the most important thing that happened in CPG that month. Rebel Creamery filed for Chapter 11 on August 14, twenty-nine days after the judgment. The filing lists $13.78 million in assets against $23.85 million in liabilities, and the judgment is essentially all of it. A packaging design decision made in 2018 ended a company in 2026. This week: Rebel Creamery files Chapter 11. Van Leeuwen never claimed the name or logo was copied. It claimed the pint. The court took Rebel's own sales figures and cut a third to separate real keto demand from copied packaging, and what was left still ended the business. Plus the customer email from 2024 that became evidence in a federal courtroom. Sazerac buys Au Vodka in a reported £500 million deal. Charlie Morgan and Jackson Quinn each clear over £100 million. Sazerac spent it three weeks after Brown-Forman's family rejected its $15 billion offer for the second time. Zevia's activist wants a sale. 41,000 doors, $161 million in sales, and a market cap just north of $100 million. Broad distribution is not a moat. It is an operating expense that happens to also be a milestone. Essity buys Kenvue's Brazilian feminine care business for $284 million. Portfolio surgery seen from the buying side. Funding: Mid-Day Squares raises $8 million in debt for Costco capacity, UNDO lands 900 Target stores after building 1,000 independents first, Lily Collins joins IM8, and A1R Water lists on Nasdaq via SPAC. Creatine becomes a line extension. Magna, Salud, and Tonic all added it in a single week. Nobody is launching creatine brands anymore. Subscribe to The Deeter Digest: https://deetseatsnyc.substack.com/ Follow @deetseatsnyc on Instagram and TikTok Pickle Advisors: pickleadvisors.com

  8. Aug 24

    Seventeen Years vs. Two: Ferrero Buys Purely Elizabeth as Unwell Shuts Down

    Two brands ended this week. Purely Elizabeth spent seventeen years building and was acquired by Ferrero. Alex Cooper's Unwell beverage line lasted less than two years and is reportedly shutting down after Halloween. Cooper has one of the biggest audiences in podcasting. Elizabeth Stein has granola. Only one of those businesses is still standing. THIS WEEK IN CPG Ferrero agreed to acquire Purely Elizabeth, the wellness breakfast brand Stein founded in 2009. Terms weren't disclosed, and Ferrero says it will preserve the brand's identity with Stein staying on. This is a Nutella conglomerate buying credibility at the modern American breakfast table, which is the one thing it couldn't manufacture internally. Unwell is reportedly shutting down. Unwell Media continues. The drinks do not. A huge audience generates a first purchase. Beverage economics have to generate the second one. Nichols bought VITHIT for £64 million. The brand proved the demand. Nichols brings Vimto's route to market, which is the second company hiding inside the first one. C&S Wholesale Grocers is taking majority control of Winn-Dixie, moving a wholesaler in front of the shelf instead of behind it. The FDA proposed replacing the self-affirmed GRAS pathway with mandatory notification, covering ingredients already on the market. This changes the evidence burden behind your formula. Carbliss made a limited release permanent after it hit fourth-highest SKU velocity in all of U.S. food at only 22% distribution. That's how limited releases are supposed to work. Scarcity wasn't the strategy, it was the measurement period. Plus: Lactalis buys Saputo's UK dairy business for £988M, Zevia's board reviews a sale, inKind raises $414M, Lifeway posts its 27th straight growth quarter, and CAVA grows revenue 31.3% on 5.3% traffic growth. THE TAKE Distribution is not demand. Neither is an audience, a celebrity partner, or a funding announcement. Reach opens the door. Proof gets you invited back. Subscribe to The Deeter Digest: https://deetseatsnyc.substack.com/ Unpackaged Goods on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6moZEYjORSb5XZ7LVu8b3f?si=6c656c85e78e487a @deetseatsnyc on Instagram/TikTok Pickle Advisors: pickleadvisors.com #UnpackagedGoods #CPG #Ferrero #PurelyElizabeth #Unwell #AlexCooper #CelebrityBrands #Nichols #VITHIT #WinnDixie #GRAS #FDA #Carbliss #Lifeway #CAVA #ConsumerBrands #FoodBusiness #BrandStrategy

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Keep a pulse on the people and news shaping retail, health, wellness, and consumer packaged goods.On Unpackaged Goods, Jonathan Deeter talks with the founders, operators, and investors behind consumer brands—and breaks down the industry’s latest news, deals, and trends. From the decisions that get a product onto shelves to the forces changing what consumers buy, the show connects the stories behind the brands with the business around them.For anyone building, backing, or simply curious about what’s next in consumer goods.Presented by Deet’s Eats Media, a Pickle Advisors company.

Information

  • Creator
    Jonathan Deeter
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    36
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Unpackaged Goods
  • Show Website
    Unpackaged Goods