[Greatest Hits] An Incremental Approach To Distribution & Product Development with Chris Kirby, Founder at Ithaca Hummus

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.