The Physical Product Movement

In this episode, Jeff Vierling, Co-founder and CEO of Tailwind Nutrition, joins the conversation. Jeff is an endurance biker who competes in races all over the country. As a result of his experiences, Jeff was intimately familiar with the challenges of keeping his body fueled while competing. Unfortunately, Jeff couldn't find any products with the nutrition he needed to compete in endurance events, so he created one. Jeff talks about how to scale your business by effectively marketing using events and competitions, digital marketing, and strategically going after targeted wholesale accounts worldwide. Jeff also shares why they chose to manufacture in-house and how he keeps this production operationally simple.

In this episode, we're joined by Mia Medina, Founder and CEO of Gather Brands, a full-service marketing management agency that focuses on women-owned and women-run companies in the CPG industry. Today, she talks about common mistakes that she has seen brands make when they try to break into retail and the importance of understanding your customers and why they choose your product.

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement Podcast, we speak with Juan Salinas, CEO & Founder of P-nuff Crunch, a Mark Cuban Company. Juan shares his insights on why you should bring on help as soon as possible when starting a CPG business, the benefits of selling online, and how getting into retail is more expensive than you might think.

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement Podcast, we speak with Allison Ball, Founder and CEO of Food Biz Wiz. Allison shares her experience as a buyer for a fast-growing grocery chain and how that taught her lessons about why brands succeed or fail in retail. She also gives tips on how to get in front of buyers and the mistakes brands make when engaging with them.

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement podcast, Ted Fleming, Founder and CEO of Partake Brewing, shares his life and experiences after receiving a devastating medical diagnosis and how that inspired him to create his product. Ted tells us that he knew in his core that there was a market for this product, even though others thought it was a terrible idea. He also shares the actions he took after his manufacturer sent him a bad batch of the initial product and how that led to the creation of a different product that he still sells to this day.

In this episode of the Physical Product Movement Podcast, Ken Ojuka is joined by Jordan Bass, CEO and Cofounder of HOP WTR, a non-alcoholic brand alternative to beer. Jordan covers his personal experiences that eventually led him to start HOP WTR and shares his approach to analyzing the market and gathering the data while still staying true to his intuition and life experience. Jordan also explains how to position your product and business for each customer any CPG brand has to consider: the distributor, the retailer, and the consumer.

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement, Chris Kirby, Founder of Ithaca Hummus, shares the story behind building his hummus company, the value of an incremental approach to wholesale, and how that allowed him to continue to develop his product into a nationwide CPG brand.

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement podcast, Pat Bennett, President and Founder of Pat's Granola, shares advice on working with a local co-packer along with the advantages of being onsite, especially during the initial production, and how crucial it is to have a close working relationship with your co-packer.

In this episode of the Physical Product Movement Podcast, Ryan Margolin, CEO of Professional Hair Labs, joins the conversation to discuss his company's transition from outsourcing their manufacturing to manufacturing their own line of products in-house. Ryan talks about the hidden cost every manufacturer needs to stay on top of, how to finance and bootstrap the expenses of starting up your own production line, and the advantages to brands of selecting custom formulations versus the private label. Coming from a digital marketing background, Ryan also shares some tips on marketing and how brands should use social media to find new markets and sell their products. This was a great conversation applicable to both manufacturers and brands that teaches you how to improve your current manufacturing processes, whether you're doing that in-house or using a co-man. We appreciate Ryan's willingness to share some tips for others looking to do the same. This is a must-listen if you've ever debated whether to bring your CPG product manufacturing in-house or not.

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement podcast, Dustin Finkel, CEO of Awakened Foods, shares transparent and actionable insights that help those raising capital to scale their brands and gives some invaluable tips on partnering with co-manufacturers.

If you've been looking for healthy and delicious ice cream, look no further! Must Love is a Los Angeles-based ice cream company founded by Hannah Hong and her best friend Molly that focuses on producing non-dairy ice cream made with real, simple ingredients. Hannah explains what makes Must Love a healthier product and describes their strategy to enter grocery stores in Southern California and expand nationally. Hannah shares the challenges of distributing a temperature-controlled product like ice cream in the CPG space and how being on Shark Tank forced them to embrace D2C and perfect it. She also talks about how a chance meeting with a customer in Hawaii led to an introduction to a Costco buyer and eventually a fantastic deal.

Not long ago, Jessi Freitag, a CPG Operations Consultant, Podcast Host, and Producer at Startup CPG and Iroh's Corner, joined us on a great episode of The Physical Product Movement podcast. She talked about her CPG experience, the advantages and drawbacks of manufacturing in-house, and how the operations team works with marketing and sales to scale the brand. Jessi also shared the exciting efficiencies you can find when looking for small operations improvements daily and a lot more.

One exciting conversation we had on The Physical Product Movement podcast was with Tyler Merrick, the Founder of Project 7, a premium confectionery brand with a social mission to fund critical areas of need through their keto-friendly plant-based candies and delicious gummies. Tyler unfolded his experience launching Project 7 and how he managed to perform a brand autopsy to revive it. He also shared lessons he learned the hard way from relying too much on brick-and-mortar sales and how COVID reinforced that experience.

Recalling some of the greatest episodes we had on the podcast, we couldn't miss Will Nitze, Founder, and CEO of IQBAR, the leading "brain+body" plant-based protein bar. After attending Harvard, studying psychology and neuroscience, he moved toward the world of software sales and, ultimately, launched his own business. In this episode, Will shares his experience with the countless iterations that led him to create IQBAR and then leverage the Kickstarter campaign for market research and to gain initial traction. Lastly, Will provides tremendous insight into his distribution strategy through D2C, retail, and Amazon.

In this episode of the Physical Product Movement Podcast, we're joined by Grace Ventura of Grace's Goodness Organics, a plant-based sipping broth made from simple ingredients like vegetables, wellness herbs, and MCT oil. Her brand focuses on those with an active lifestyle looking for a healthy mini-meal or a quick pick-me-up. Grace tells the story of how food and nutrition were a big area of struggle for her clients. Wanting to help them, she landed on plant-based sipping broths. Grace describes how she started Grace's Goodness Organics, explains the importance of authenticity behind the brand, and how customers can feel the intention and energy in the brand's products.

In this episode of the Physical Product Movement podcast, we talk with Laurel Orley, CEO and Co-Founder of Daily Crunch Snacks, a women-owned and non-GMO healthy snack company. Laurel spent thirteen years building brands at Unilever and had the opportunity to work on well-known brands like Lipton Tea, the Ragu line of sauces, Dove Body Wash, and the Dove Men's line of products. She has a unique approach on what is needed to succeed as a brand. Today, Laurel talks about different trends in the CPG space and how Keto and Plant-based brands need to differentiate more to connect meaningfully with the consumer. Laurel also shares her approach to trade shows and how to get better results from virtual or in-person trade shows. Lastly, she talks about how getting into a retail store is just the beginning, and what you need to do as a brand to cultivate that relationship and succeed with the retailer.

Is there any way smaller, emerging beverage brands can compete with giants like Coca-Cola? In one of the previous episodes of the Physical Product Movement podcast, we got a positive answer. Marc Siden, Co-founder, and CEO of Cloud Water is an ambitious entrepreneur who has established a natural sparkling hemp beverage brand with premium botanicals. Marc shares the challenges of leading his company through COVID and how they've been able to thrive. He also talks about difficulties and opportunities in the beverage space, specifically on how to compete against established giants like Coca-Cola. Lastly, Marc gives some great insights on the importance of understanding your landed and promotional costs, distributor margins, retailer margins, and shipping.

Since the first episode of The Physical Product Movement podcast, we have heard many incredible stories from different CPG entrepreneurs. Among our guests was Josh Belinsky, the Co-Founder of Slate Milk, a line of lactose-free, high protein, and better-for-you chocolate milk. Josh shared how his struggle with lactose intolerance while also having a love for chocolate milk, motivated him to start Slate Milk. Josh also talked about the importance of asking the right questions when doing customer research and staying curious, especially when breaking into a very competitive category. It was a great episode, and we believe you'll get a lot out of this conversation with Josh Belinsky.

Jamba Dunn, Founder, and CEO of Rowdy Mermaid, is our guest today on The Physical Product Movement podcast. Rowdy Mermaid is a premier kombucha and functional beverage brand located in Boulder, Colorado. Jamba talks about his obsession and passion for kombucha and how his scientific and research-focused approach led to a unique, light, refreshing, clean, and functional beverage. He shares how his past experience had made him extremely reluctant to become an entrepreneur until he got positive support and feedback from friends and family. Jamba also discusses how he started Rowdy Mermaid, the importance of being selective about the words used to position and market products, and how that impacts customer expectations.

We had many fantastic amazing guests on the Physical Product Movement podcast with unbelievable stories. And one of them was John Schiaroli, President and Founder of Armatura Company, which helps food and beverages entrepreneurs scale their businesses. With his decades of experience in food and beverage, John makes operations simple and scalable. He shared everything CPG entrepreneurs need to know about CPG operations, from the dos and don'ts of working with co-packers to the differences between brands that thrive and brands that fail. We had a fantastic conversation with John and decided to share it again.

Those of you listening to The Physical Product Movement from the very beginning may have heard about Justin Fenchel, Co-Founder, and CEO at BeatBox Beverages, "The World's Tastiest Party Punch." Justin was a great guest with some fantastic advice about how you can build an authentic brand and grow it successfully. He also talked about how to validate your product idea quickly and inexpensively and the importance of partnering with the right distributor to get your product in front of your "target customer." It was such an exciting conversation, and we're more than happy to share it again with you.

Matt Feldman, founder and CEO of Moku Foods - and a member of the Forbes 30 under 30, is our guest today on The Physical Product Movement podcast. Growing up in Hawaii, Matt developed an appreciation and love for the environment, which inspired him to launch a company that reduces the negative environmental impact of the meat industry. Matt started Moku Foods, to make delicious, plant-based jerky that everyone can enjoy. When launching his CPG brand, Matt learned some invaluable lessons he shares with us here. He talks about what it means to commercialize your product and why the product you make in your kitchen is not the same one you take to market. Also, Matt explains the value of seeking out strong operational partners to avoid many of the common pitfalls in the CPG space. Lastly, he shares how he was able to reach out to investors to get them interested in his product and ultimately invest and partner with him.

Today's guest of The Physical Product Movement podcast is Ryan Gresh, Founder & CEO at The Feel Good Lab, a leading line of pain relief products made from all-natural ingredients. Ryan shares how a dinner conversation with his dad and brother convinced him to leave his career as an engineer in the aerospace industry to launch his own company. Ryan also talks about the advantages and disadvantages of sourcing products and ingredients from domestic suppliers, especially in the wake of COVID-19 and the related supply chain issues. Ryan discusses why you should not only negotiate on price but also on terms and how that can impact your cash flow. By far the most impressive thing about Ryan's mindset is his passion for his customers' problems and his determination to solve them.

Amongst the greatest hits of The Physical Product Movement podcast is the inaugural episode — our very first guest was Colby Bauer, the Co-founder & CEO at Thread Wallets. Thread® is a minimalist accessory brand that promotes originality and expression, bringing life to a product category saturated with bulky and boring products. In this episode, Colby talks about the inspiration behind Thread® and details every step he took to set up and grow the business. Colby also shares advice on building an authentic and original dot-com brand.

At the end of 2021, we talked with Mike Lackman, CEO of Trade Coffee. The brand unites over fifty of the best roasters in the country with 400+ coffees that are rich in variety and taste. And the numbers have been growing ever since. Trade Coffee has adopted a unique approach to retail. Driven by the idea that "every cup you drink should be the best damn coffee," Trade Coffee is often compared to Netflix, but for the coffee industry. In this episode, Mike describes how Trade Coffee can help you find your perfect freshly roasted coffee match so that you can enjoy it daily. Also, he gives some valuable advice about designing consumer experiences by gathering data in a survey to then curate recommendations. And lastly, we dive into the importance of the story behind a product. It was a great experience learning about Mike's story and Trade Coffee. And for those of you who missed the episode, you can listen to it now.

Juan Giraldo, CEO, and co-founder at Waku joins us to share his insights on starting a mission-driven brand and how you first need to satisfy customers' tastes and functional requirements before you earn the right to enlist them in your mission. Waku is a beverage brand of ready-to-drink herbal teas infused with prebiotics. Since Juan is from Ecuador, he wanted to make an impact in his home country by sourcing organic, high quality and pure ingredients directly from farms in Ecuador. He talks about the challenges of setting up a co-manufacturer and a raw ingredient supply chain in another country. Juan also walks us through the steps he took to get his first products manufactured and how he repositioned his product several times based on the feedback he received from his customers.

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement Podcast, Fernando Campos, co-founder at MarketplaceOps, shares the pluses and minuses of selling on Amazon. He reveals some of the winning strategies brands use to grow on Amazon despite its saturation and competitiveness in nearly every category. Fernando also talks about the characteristics of products that do well on Amazon, the critical first 90 days of a product launch, and the five mistakes brands make that keep them from capitalizing on the Amazon opportunity.

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement Podcast, Jordan Buckner, Founder of Foodbevy, highlights common mistakes brands make in distribution, marketing, and manufacturing. Jordan shares a painful and costly mistake that made it difficult for him to move from a commercial kitchen to a co-packer and how you can avoid it. He offers tips on how to get a buyer's attention by speaking their language and focusing on their goals and metrics instead of your own goals and product.

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement Podcast, Robert Birnecker, CEO and co-founder of Koval Distillery, talks about the pivots he and his wife made before landing on their current line of products. He details the challenges and opportunities of working with great distributors, and how that has helped them with international expansion. Robert also talks about the advantages of manufacturing in-house to ensure quality and adapt to changing market conditions.

In this episode, Ken Ojuka, host of The Physical Product Movement Podcast and Co-Founder of Fiddle, joins Jessi Freitag for tea, a Business Operations Consultant, Podcast Host, and Producer at Startup CPG and Iroh's Corner. Ken shares his career path from having a CPG brand to creating software for CPG brands, his focus on building inventory software with a modern, intuitive interface, and how he strives toward "work-life harmony."

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement Podcast, Elena Guberman, CEO of newly launched CPG brand TBH (an honest snacking company founded by Stranger Things actor Noah Schnapp), joins us to discuss creativity and art in operations and how learning new things on the job and through a community has always helped her thrive. Elena also explains why operations should work closely with sales and marketing to win and succeed, why it's important to be iterative and flexible, her rule of five when asking someone for advice, and plenty of other words of wisdom.

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement Podcast, Eric Diamond and David Miller from Central Kitchen talk about what it takes to succeed as a new food and beverage brand, exciting new trends, and plant-based foods. We also dive into why Eric and David have chosen not to take on any outside funding, the growing popularity of ghost kitchen spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, how to be true to yourself and business, and a new perspective on the great resignation and work-life balance.

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement Podcast, Hannah Hong, co-founder of Must Love, talks about her experience working in brand strategy and innovation and how Must Love went from being in Southern California grocery stores to expanding nationally. Hannah also details the importance of maintaining relationships and how a chance meeting with a customer in Hawaii led to an introduction to a Costco buyer and eventually a deal. Hannah describes the challenges of distributing a temperature-controlled product like ice cream in the CPG space and how being on Shark Tank forced them to embrace D2C and perfect it.

In this episode of The Physical Product Movement Podcast, Jessi Freitag, a Business Operations Consultant, Podcast Host, and Producer at Startup CPG and Iroh's Corner, shares some great insights from an operations perspective. She was previously the Director of Marketing and Operations at LivBar, where she helped the company grow from manufacturing in a small room to a 12,000 square foot facility. Jessi talks about the advantages and drawbacks of manufacturing in-house and how the operations team works with marketing and sales to scale the brand. We also dive into the exciting efficiencies you can find when looking for small operations improvements every day and a lot more.

Business insurance is one of those important things we often leave on the back burner until it's too late. Luckily, Danielle has years of experience and knowledge she shares during our conversation. When should brands consider getting insurance? What are the different types of coverage and what can they do for me? Do I choose a brokerage or go straight to the insurance company? What if my co-packer or supplier already has insurance, can I rely on that? Keep listening for the answers to those questions and more PLUS some stories from her clients that prove just how helpful insurance can be! Enjoy this episode all about business insurance for CPG brands!

In this episode, we're joined by Connor Curran, Chief Laundry Folder and Founder at Local Laundry. Inspired by his parents, Connor wanted to become an entrepreneur and find a way to connect with the community, bring people together, and make their lives a little bit better. He shifted his attention towards clothing, as he believes the way we dress and present ourselves to the world sends messages about who we are and what we believe in. So he started an online t-shirt company called Local Laundry. Since anyone can start a t-shirt company, the main factor is to differentiate yourself. Local Laundry focuses on giving back to the community, bringing people together, building a community around a brand, and celebrating everyone in that community. Furthermore, Local Laundry switched all of its manufacturing to Canadian-made products. People are willing to pay slightly more as all the profit goes back to the Canadian community. Connor also describes how the pandemic offered them the opportunity to switch their business focus from retail to custom garments and details the benefits of this move.

If you have ever struggled with managing your sourcing, production, inventory, or anything on the operations side of your business, then today's episode is what you need! It's called Inventory Management 101 - a conversation between our founder, Ken Ojuka, and Jessi Freitag on the Startup CPG podcast. They talk about why you should manage your inventory more like you manage your personal finances with a bank account, how to make it all easier through automation, helpful tips for working with your co-packers and suppliers, when you should consider switching from spreadsheets to software for sourcing, production, and inventory management, and tons more. Whether you're new or a veteran in the CPG space, you'll definitely learn something new in the episode

In this episode, James Oliver, founder, and CEO of Atlas Bar shares his exciting journey in starting his own CPG brand in nutrition. It is a great story that combines his passion for nutrition, athletic background, and a genuine concern about the impact of food on both the body and the mind. The Atlas Bar is a unique product because it's the only one in its category that provides functional nutrition that supports both physical and mental health. James also talks about how he drove Uber and sold knives to raise money, how he started advertising the product to different gyms, the risks, and processes involved with launching the company, and why entrepreneurs have to learn and develop persuasion.

In this episode, we're joined by Mike Lackman, CEO of Trade Coffee, a coffee company that unites over fifty of the best roasters in the country with 400+ coffees that are rich in variety and taste. They offer this coffee to consumers nationwide on a subscription basis. We can compare Trade Coffee to Netflix, but for coffee. It's an innovative approach to retail that other businesses can also apply. Mike has some valuable advice about designing consumer experiences by gathering data in a survey to then curate recommendations. Moreover, we talk about the importance of the story behind a product. Also, we discuss how to highlight your suppliers, the source of your product, and search for and take forward the uniqueness of the people, product, geography, and process involved in bringing a product to market.

In this episode, Ken Ojuka, the host of The Physical Product Movement Podcast and Co-founder at Fiddle, joins Alex Bayer, the founder and CEO at Genius Juice and the host of 15 Minutes of Genius Podcast. Ken shares his background and reveals his motivation behind starting Fiddle and The Physical Product Movement Podcast.

In this episode Amy Zitelman, CEO and Co-founder of Soom Foods, joins us in the next episode of The Physical Product Movement Podcast. Soom Foods is a sister-owned Tahini products company whose products are used by award-winning restaurants and chefs around the world. Amy has been featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 and is also the author of "The Tahini Table." Amy tells the founding story of Soom Foods, how she and her sisters identified Tahini as an ingredient used heavily in other parts of the world but underrepresented in the United States market. She talks about the challenges and opportunities of selling a less-known category product. She also discusses the early days of loading up her bags with jars of Tahini and cold-calling restaurants. And finally, Amy outlines some of the surprising benefits of targeting wholesale channels first before eventually going direct to consumers. Amy is a great entrepreneur with a lot to share.

In this episode features Myles Powell, the Founder and CEO of 8 Myles, a popular and fast-growing line of gourmet mac and cheese. Myles tells us about his pivot from selling barbecue sauces at farmer's markets to selling the mac and cheese he was making to showcase his sauces. He talks about the struggle he had with deciding when to quit his job and the mental anguish it took to make that decision, only to then be forced to make it again a couple of years later. He also shared with us how he took advantage of the open shelf space made possible through the effects of the COVID pandemic on the supply chain, and how he used that to get his product into popular retailers like Target and Whole Foods.

Hey listeners, you're in for a fantastic interview today. Our guest is Emily Miller, the CEO & Founder of Off Limits, an innovative and modern cereal brand taking the CPG space by storm. Emily has a super unique background in fashion, forecasting, and hosting breakfast meetups. There's an obvious connection between breakfast meetups and creating a cereal brand but how does her fashion and forecasting experience influence her brand? You'll hear about that, NFTs, how she thinks about the CPGs and the metaverse, why she's adamant about sourcing her own ingredients, why customers spend hours on the Off Limits website, and a lot more.

In this episode, we speak with Allison Ball, Founder and CEO of Food Biz Wiz, a company that helps packaged food, beverage, and grocery brands get on to supermarket shelves, manage their wholesale strategy, and increase their sales. Allison talks about her experience as a buyer for a fast-growing grocery chain and how that taught her lessons about why brands succeed or fail in retail. She also shares some great tips on how to get in front of buyers, and the mistakes brands make when engaging with a buyer. Today's interview is all about getting your food or beverage brand into retail stores.

Betsy Hamm, the Chief Executive Officer at Duck Donuts, joins us in today's episode, where she talks about how she started in PR and worked her way from marketing to operations. Betsy also offers insights into the growth strategy behind franchising a business, what it takes to get a new location off the ground, and tips on succeeding as a franchise. Duck Donuts just hit the 100 store milestone and in 2022 is looking to open up 40 new locations. They are growing fast and picking up momentum. This interview illustrates how to develop a brand, how to find and maintain healthy partnerships, and how to build processes into your business so that customers have a consistently great experience.

Today's episode is extra special. Most of you are accustomed to hearing our founder Ken Ojuka interview all of our amazing founder guests. Today, the tables turn and Ken gets interviewed by G. Steven Cleere on the Nexxt Level Brands Podcast. They talk about Ken's history as an entrepreneur and CPG founder himself, how he helped his friend start his own co-manufacturer, and how that led him to create Fiddle. You'll hear how supply chain and production management are the foundation of successful CPG brands and exactly how Fiddle helps you source ingredients, track all of your inventory, fulfill orders on time, and prevent stockouts so your customers and partners love buying from you!

In this episode, we're joined by Mitch Barnard, CEO, and Founder of Wildpack Beverage. Mitch talks about the massive opportunity he and his firms see in the beverage market, which is currently growing at 23% per year, blowing many other categories out of the water. He discusses why distributing co-packing close to target cities is key to a brand's success. He also talks about common mistakes food and beverage entrepreneurs make when scaling their brand and how you can avoid them.

In this episode, we're joined by Tyler Phillips of Hummii, a "healthy + yummii plant-powered universe". Hear how Tyler has always loved snacks from a young age, how he got the idea for Hummii after going on a run in Puerto Rico, how he thinks about branding, the future of the CPG space with NFTs, how he makes business a game, and tons more.

Learn how to pitch your product, how to stay on the shelf, and how to work with distributors. You need to nail all three areas in order to truly win at retail. Sandra Velasquez has helped numerous brands grow into retail locations all over the country following the tips and strategies she covered in this webinar recording. Get ready to take a lot of notes!

Today's episode is with Dev Sevy, the Head Popper, and CEO of Sizzle Popcorn. Our conversation ran the gamut in the best way. He's built Sizzle with a community-first mentality. We talked about how an old popcorn machine sparked Dev's idea to start Sizzle, why he focuses on immediate action over long-term planning, how he launched a successful NFT component to his brand, and tons more. I hope you dig our conversation as much as I did!

In this episode, we're joined by Margaret Wishingrad, Co-founder of Three Wishes Cereal. Margaret talks about the opportunity she saw in the crowded and competitive breakfast cereal market while feeding her young and very picky son. Using her experience in marketing and advertising, Margaret started her journey by doing product and consumer research. Eventually, Three Wishes was launched and was able to find success in retail, getting into Sprouts, Whole Foods, and Wegmans. She goes into detail about why she felt her brand resonated with these buyers. Margaret is an open book with great stories and insights for food and beverage entrepreneurs.