Bulletproof Your CPG Brand

339. Growth is supposed to make your CPG brand stronger. So why do more stores, more sales, more people, and more data so often leave a brand with tighter cash, more fires, and harder decisions? In this episode, Dan Lohman breaks down one of the biggest problems growing brands face. As the company grows, different people start owning different parts of the business. Sales is focused on sales. Operations is focused on supply. Finance is focused on cash. Marketing is focused on demand. Brokers and distributors are doing their part too. The problem is not always that someone is doing a bad job. The problem is that everyone can be looking at a different piece of the same decision. That is when growth starts making the business feel heavier instead of stronger. Dan walks through what gets lost as brands grow, why more distribution is not the whole decision, how challenger brands can stay nimble without becoming chaotic, and what it really means to build retail muscle into the company. In this episode: why growth can create tighter cash, more friction, and harder decisions what happens when each function solves only its own piece of the problem why the department can be right while the business is still wrong what category management was supposed to do how to keep the speed of a challenger brand while adding better discipline the 5 questions to ask before making the next retail decision how to use the new Start Here page to find the right next step Start with the problem that is costing you the most. Start here: RetailSolved.com/start Show notes and free guide: RetailSolved.com/session339 If this episode helps, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone trying to grow a CPG brand without breaking it. Chapters 00:00 Why growth can make a brand weaker 00:55 When the whole company fit around one table 02:01 The 4 things every brand thinks it needs 03:43 500 new stores and the hidden bill 05:44 What gets lost as brands grow 07:29 What category management was supposed to do 09:10 Do not become the company you are trying to beat 10:20 What building retail muscle really means 11:43 Why learning becomes your competitive edge 13:35 Find the real problem before solving the wrong one 15:28 5 questions to ask this week 17:01 Why I rebuilt the starting point 18:06 The 3 ways to get help 19:04 Bigger is not the same as stronger 20:03 What got harder that you did not expect?

338. Getting into retail is a big win. But for many founders, that is where a different set of problems begins. In this episode of Bulletproof Your CPG Brand , Dan Lohman sits down with Julia from Livemore Superfoods to talk about what happens after the retailer says yes. Julia shares how Livemore grew, what they learned the hard way about retail expansion, and why being in more stores does not automatically mean the business is stronger. One of the most valuable lessons from this conversation is simple: The goal is not just getting into stores. The goal is making those stores actually work. Dan and Julia discuss: • why getting distribution and building productive distribution are not the same thing • how spreading a brand across too many retailers, regions, or channels can weaken support • why concentrated effort helps build awareness and velocity • how customer learning can lead to better product decisions • why founders need to think beyond the yes If your brand is already in retail but the results are not where you want them to be, this conversation will help you think differently about what happens next. This weeks free guide: https://retailsolved.com/guide33 Get the show notes and free guide: https://retailsolved.com/session338 Chapters 00:00 We Got the Stores. Now How Do We Make Them Work? 00:51 Meet Julia and the Story Behind Livemore 03:43 Building Livemore Around Better Nutrition 05:21 Why Livemore Chose Retail First 09:59 From Smoothies to a Bigger Retail Opportunity 13:02 Choosing the Right Retailers, Regions and Shoppers 16:28 The Retail Growth Lessons Livemore Learned the Hard Way 19:23 Why Founders Need to Say No to More Retail Opportunities 20:43 The Retailer Said Yes. Now What? 22:07 How to Make Existing Retail Distribution Work 26:04 Turn Your Customer List Into a Retail Growth Asset 28:02 How Shopper Insight Can Make You More Valuable to Retailers 31:39 Scaling Livemore After the Nutrisco Acquisition 34:14 How Acquired Brands Protect Their Authenticity 37:20 Retail, DTC and Building a Stronger Growth Engine 41:43 Turn Customers Into Co-Creators and Brand Advocates 43:41 Why Trust and Authenticity Become Your AI Moat 45:04 Right Accounts. Right Products. Strategic Growth. 47:50 Find the Leak. Then Build the Muscle Behind It.

337. A CPG brand can add distribution, grow revenue and become financially weaker at the same time. I've watched it happen. A profitable brand expanded into more distributor DCs and markets. Distribution increased. So did inventory, free fills, chargebacks, distributor costs and the resources required to support all those new doors. The sales report showed growth. The underlying business was getting weaker. That's because getting the retailer's yes isn't the end of the investment. In many cases, it's when the investment begins. Inventory has to be produced before shoppers buy it. Distributor economics have to work. Trade needs a job. Retail execution has to happen. Deductions can arrive after the sale. And the brand may finance weeks or months of activity before the cash comes back. The problem is that those costs rarely appear together on one report. In Episode 337 of Bulletproof Your CPG Brand, I break down the Retail Door Cost Stack and show you how to pressure-test one retailer before funding the next expansion. You'll learn how to think about: • inventory and working capital • distributor and path-to-retailer economics • trade investment • retail execution • deductions and compliance • cash timing • organizational capacity • the difference between more distribution and Productive Distribution The goal isn't to become afraid of growth. It's to know what must be true for growth to make your business materially stronger, not merely bigger. Try this now Pick one retailer. Ask how much cash you must commit before meaningful cash comes back, what recurring costs come with the account, who owns what happens after authorization, and what evidence 90 to 120 days from now tells you to keep investing, change the plan or stop. One retailer. One better decision. Then build the next muscle. 🎯 Find the loudest leak before you fund another one: RetailSolved.com/leakfinder 🎧 Episode 337 and show notes: RetailSolved.com/session337 Chapters 00:00 — More Retail Doors, Less Cash? 01:07 — How Episodes 335 and 336 Got Us Here 01:40 — What Does a Retail Door Actually Cost? 02:28 — The Retail Yes Is Not the Finish Line 03:26 — Growth vs. Productive Growth 03:53 — Strategic vs. Opportunistic Distribution 04:25 — When More Distribution Made a Profitable Brand Weaker 05:05 — Sales Are Visible. The Costs Are Scattered. 05:52 — The Retail Door Cost Stack 06:17 — #1 Inventory 06:55 — #2 The Path to the Retailer 07:25 — #3 Trade 08:10 — #4 Retail Execution 08:53 — #5 Deductions and Compliance 09:35 — #6 Cash Timing 10:15 — #7 Company Capacity 10:55 — What Has to Be True for This Retailer to Become Productive? 11:37 — What Prepared Growth Looks Like 12:30 — Your One Retail Muscle Rep 13:20 — The Bigger Lesson From Episodes 335–337 14:21 — Find the Leak Before You Fund Another One 15:29 — More Distribution Is Not Automatically Better Distribution

336. I found a roughly $15 million growth opportunity gap inside a brand that was already in the stores. They did not need another retailer. They needed the right products in the retailers they already had. The brand had 16 SKUs, growing distribution, brokers, promotions, and plenty of reasons to believe things were moving in the right direction. But store by store, the assortment told a very different story. Retailers were carrying the brand — but often not the core products shoppers in the category looked for first. That created three expensive problems at once: weaker competitive positioning harder-to-build velocity trade promotions being forced to work much harder than they should In this episode of Bulletproof Your CPG Brand , I show you how I identified the gap and the simple four-part system I used to turn the problem into a much clearer retail strategy. You'll learn: why more distribution is not always better distribution how to identify the products that should form your core assortment why specialty items should expand the brand after the core is protected how the wrong assortment can weaken promotion ROI why a retailer can carry your brand while your existing distribution quietly becomes less secure how to find productive whitespace in stores you already have the four questions to pressure-test before chasing the next retailer The lesson is simple: Sometimes the fastest growth opportunity is not the retailer you have not landed yet. Sometimes the money is hiding in the stores you already have. Want help finding the retail problem sitting in front of you? The free Build Your Retail Muscle Founder Problem Finder gives you three podcast conversations to start with, one practical action, and the next resource if you want to go deeper. No email required. RetailSolved.com/guide33 Show notes and resources: RetailSolved.com/session336 Chapters 00:00 — The $15M growth gap hiding inside existing distribution 00:45 — What looked like retail progress was actually a warning 01:20 — The products shoppers look for first 02:04 — Three expensive problems caused by the wrong assortment 02:39 — When trade marketing subsidizes a weak assortment 03:01 — How I exposed the productive whitespace 03:56 — Protect the core assortment before adding more SKUs 04:45 — Why fixing the shelf makes promotions work harder 05:30 — When weak velocity puts existing distribution at risk 06:24 — Distribution vs. productive distribution 06:48 — The four-part productive distribution check 07:27 — Why door count is the wrong growth scorecard 07:53 — Finding money in the stores you already have 08:26 — The free Founder Problem Finder 09:20 — The question to ask before chasing more stores

335. If you're trying to get into retail stores, a better-looking CPG pitch deck is not enough. Retail buyers hear versions of the same founder, product, traction, growth, and market-size story every day. The brands that stand out make the retailer's decision easier . In this episode of Bulletproof Your CPG Brand , I explain what retail buyers actually need to understand before taking the risk on a new item — including where the product belongs, who the shopper is, why that shopper matters to the retailer, what useful evidence the brand can bring, what the retailer gains, and what needs to happen after authorization. You'll also hear: why an investor pitch and retailer presentation solve different problems why retail buyers start tuning out self-focused brand pitches how I turned one of the weakest DSD routes into the highest-grossing route by making retailers' lives easier why a simple shelf image built in PowerPoint can be more useful than another 20 slides why retailers do not need you to read their own data back to them what happened when a brand expanded distribution faster than it could support why brokers, distributors, software, data, and agencies can help — but the brand still has to own the strategy how to build your retail muscle one practical win at a time FREE NEXT STEP Before your next buyer meeting, pressure-test the retail fundamentals behind the launch. Get the free New Item Essential System : RetailSolved.com/guide13 The goal is not to fix everything at once. Ask one question: Which retail fundamental is costing you the most right now? Then build that muscle first. CHAPTERS 00:00 What retail buyers need to see before they say yes 01:05 Why this is not really about a prettier pitch deck 01:59 CPG pitch deck: make the retailer's decision easier 02:39 Investor pitch vs. retailer decision 04:12 Why retail buyers start tuning brands out 05:06 The lightbulb moment when I became the brand 06:39 The simplest retailer tool almost nobody uses 08:27 1. Where exactly does the product belong? 08:44 2. Who is the shopper and why do they matter? 09:45 3. What can you show the retailer they do not already know? 10:36 4. What does the retailer gain if they say yes? 11:22 5. What happens after the retailer says yes? 12:13 When more distribution creates a bigger problem 14:01 Can your brand actually support the growth? 14:35 Build your retail muscle 15:51 One question before your next retailer meeting 16:29 Free New Item Essential System Then append your standard Retail Solved description block underneath this custom section.

334. Your promotion is live. The retailer approved it. The funding is committed. Inventory shipped. The team believes everything is ready. Then someone walks into the store. The sale tag is there. The shelf is empty. Or the display never got built. Inventory is sitting in the back room. The product was moved. A competitor took the space. Something changed between the plan and what the shopper actually experienced. And here is the dangerous part: Your report may eventually tell you the promotion underperformed. It may not tell you that the shopper never had a fair chance to respond. In Episode 334 of Bulletproof Your CPG Brand , Dan Lohman explains how to close one of the most expensive gaps in retail: the distance between the strategy you approved and what actually happened at the shelf. Your broker should not own your strategy. But because brokers work directly with retailers, promotions, resets, inventory, displays, competitive activity, and execution, they can become one of your most useful sources of field intelligence. Dan shares the lessons he learned managing broker performance at Unilever and Kimberly-Clark, working from inside a broker environment at SPINS, building the original SPINS Distribution Tracker, and later writing hundreds of articles and training leadership teams on broker and trade effectiveness. You'll learn how to: recognize execution problems before the post-promotion recap use your broker as a field resource without handing over your strategy ask five better questions before the next retailer or broker decision connect shopper truth, retailer needs, competitive activity, and field reality turn what the broker sees into a clear decision, owner, and next action give the broker a clearer assignment and definition of success Dan also introduces the free 5-Minute Broker Advantage Check™ . Use it with one broker, one retailer, and one live priority before your next broker conversation. Start here: 5-Minute Broker Advantage Check™: RetailSolved.com/leakfinder Then go deeper: The free Broker Advantage Playbook™: RetailSolved.com/guide11 Episode notes and resources: RetailSolved.com/session334 CHAPTERS 00:00 The promotion is live. The shelf is empty. 00:45 The expensive blind spot your report may miss 01:53 How the last several episodes lead to the shelf 02:46 How I learned and earned broker strategy 04:13 Why broker management can feel like herding cats 05:20 Your broker is close to the execution gap 05:57 Five questions to ask before your next broker call 07:37 Shopper truth + field reality + data 08:14 Don't wait for the post-promotion recap 08:59 The free 5-Minute Broker Advantage Check™ 09:32 Give your broker a better assignment 10:15 Accountability, meetings, and stronger partnership

333. What makes one shopper willingly pay more while another keeps chasing the lowest price? It is not always the product. It is whether the product solves a problem the shopper recognizes and whether the brand communicates that value in a way the shopper and retailer can understand. In this episode, Daniel Lohman talks with Marise May, co-founder of Cha's Organics, about the values, relationships, and operating choices behind a mission-driven organic brand that has spent 20 years building trust with shoppers, farmers, suppliers, and retailers. Marise shares how authenticity, simplicity, organic agriculture, Fairtrade, and long-term partnerships have shaped the brand. The conversation also reveals a larger commercial opportunity. The people already buying your product can help explain: • what problem your product solves • which parts of your story resonate • what shoppers value beyond price • what creates trial, loyalty, and advocacy • how to improve products, packaging, and communication • how to build a stronger retailer story • what your broker needs to understand before representing the brand Your email list and customer community should not be used only for coupons and announcements. They can become a two-way Shopper Signal System that helps the brand listen, validate ideas, improve decisions, and bring real shopper language into retailer conversations. You will also hear why generic consumer research can miss the specific people buying your product and how strong supplier and community relationships can create resilience when costs, logistics, and markets become difficult. Listen to the episode, review the show notes, and download the free Shopper Signal Flywheel™ at: RetailSolved.com/session333 Download the free Shopper Signal Flywheel directly: RetailSolved.com/guide31 Learn more about Cha's Organics: https://chasorganics.com The free Shopper Signal Flywheel™ helps you listen: RetailSolved.com/guide31 The free guide Simple Solutions To Maximize Broker/Distributor Effectiveness helps you translate what you learn into a clearer broker and retailer strategy: RetailSolved.com/guide11 Simple Solutions To Maximize Broker Effectiveness helps you apply that strategy to one broker, one retailer, and one immediate priority: RetailSolved.com/BrokerStrategies CHAPTERS 00:00 What shoppers reveal that data cannot 00:40 When a mission becomes valuable to the shopper 02:06 Meet Marise May of Cha's Organics 03:15 Building a business around impact and organic food 09:35 Why simplicity and authenticity matter 13:30 Regenerative agriculture and farmer relationships 22:56 Why price is not the shopper's entire decision 25:38 Turning shopper value into a retailer story 27:00 Helping shoppers understand the product at shelf 28:41 What happens after someone joins your email list? 29:29 The Shopper Signal Flywheel™ 30:19 Using customer language in retailer conversations 32:10 Building a two-way shopper signal system 36:09 Why generic consumer research can miss your buyer 42:48 Fairtrade as a business and community system 47:37 Protecting the mission when costs increase 48:25 Why long-term partnerships create resilience 50:56 What is next for Cha's Organics 54:24 The final founder takeaway

332. A promotion can increase sales, make the retailer happy, and still quietly drain cash, margin, and runway. That is the part most post-event recaps miss. In this episode, Dan Lohman explains why a promotion can look successful on paper while quietly creating margin pressure, deduction issues, forward buys, execution gaps, and weaker baseline sales later. He shares the promotion lesson he learned selling chips against a much larger competitor and breaks down five questions every CPG brand should ask before repeating an event. In this episode, you will learn: Why sales lift alone is not proof a promotion worked The hidden costs most promotion recaps miss Why smarter timing can outperform deeper discounts How retailer value creates leverage Five questions to ask before you repeat a promotion How to turn a promotion recap into a decision, an owner, and a next action Download the free guide: RetailSolved.com/guide7 Show notes and resources: RetailSolved.com/session332 ⏰ Timecode 00:32 the most expensive promotion may become the one you repeat because sales went up 01:44 Why rinse and repeat is not a good strategy 02:50 Every ineffective promotion is more expensive 03:35 The lesson I learned selling chips - It's not what you think 05:52 How a massive free display helped double my paycheck 06:36 The costly promotion mistake every brand makes - avoid this 07:41 Earning a voice in the retailers strategy became an unfair advantage 08:04 How a small daily improvement produced an result over time 08:25 5 questions you MUST ask before repeating a promotion 08:51 A promotion with no job = a discount. A discount without measurement becomes a leak 11:08 The ethical easy button that I trust 11:58 The real easy button is a simple, repeatable decision process 12:03 This is Retail Clarity in practice 12:51 The goal is to make every promotion earn its place in the plan 13:07 Here is a practical next step 13:12 Get the FREE 8 Strategies to Maximize Your Trade Marketing ROI RetailSolved.com/guide7 14:25 When every dollar has to work harder, a slightly better decision repeated across every retailer and every event can create a very large advantage

331. Most growing brands are being sold some version of an easy button. Hire another person. Add a dashboard. Plug in AI. Automate the report, and the business will finally become easier to run. Those tools can help. The problem begins when the business expects them to replace the commercial decision capability it never built. Dan Lohman explains why the same recurring decisions keep returning to the founder even after the company adds more people, information, technology, and outside partners. You will learn: Why the founder often becomes the company's original operating system Why hiring around confusion can make it more expensive How software and AI can accelerate the wrong answer The four parts of repeatable decision capability How stronger operating rhythm improves shopper trust and business value Why better capability changes the terms with retailers and investors The Decision Clarity Trilogy helps you listen, understand, and decide. Episode 331 shows you how to build those lessons into the way the business operates. This is the Build chapter of the Retail Clarity series. Retail Clarity Series Podcast playlist 328: Listen 329: Understand 330: Decide 331: Build Bring one report, workflow, or recurring decision your team still debates: RetailSolved.com/DecisionTools Download the free 15-Minute CPG Runway Leak Finder™ and get the show notes: RetailSolved.com/session331 ⏰ Timecode 01:24 The founder becomes the original operating system 02:44 The missing layer between the people and the tools 04:17 When visible growth hides a weakening foundation 06:56 Software is not the enemy 07:36 The sequence matters. First define the decision. 08:28 Four things must come before the easy button 09:34 Shared accountability usually becomes no accountability 10:44 Better capability changes the terms of the conversation 13:03 Listen. Understand. Decide. Build. 14:47 Start with one recurring decision 15:45 The next step 17:10 The spreadsheet is not the product. The decision is. 17:17 When the margin for error gets smaller, clarity becomes your competitive advantage

330. Your Dashboard Can Be Accurate—and Still Mislead You More dashboards. More reports. More spreadsheets. More software. So why do so many CPG leadership teams still struggle to make confident decisions? In this episode, Daniel Lohman explains why more reporting doesn't automatically create more clarity. You'll learn: • Why accurate reports can still mislead • The $100,000 reporting lesson that changed how Daniel thinks about data • Why databases don't always reflect how shoppers actually shop • The four biggest reporting blind spots • Why every report should start with a decision—not a spreadsheet • How Retail Clarity helps founders ask better questions before expensive mistakes happen One idea sits at the center of this episode: The spreadsheet isn't the product. The decision is. ⏰ Timecode 01:35 when the margin for error gets smaller, decision quality matters more 03:15 The $100,000 source of truth 05:16 Don't confuse a polished report with a complete answer 05:38 Blind spot number one: the data is accurate but incomplete 06:07 An accurate number can tell an incomplete story. And an incomplete story can lead to a bad decision. 06:13 Blind spot number two: data not organized around the shopper 08:28 Blind spot number three: every department is optimizing in isolation 10:04 Blind spot number four: the report arrives after the decision has already been made 10:47 The best decision tools should help answer: 11:06 This is why I built the Retail Clarity Framework, it has 4 lenses 12:34 The difference between a report and a decision tool 13:42 Five questions to ask before trusting your next report 14:50 A decision tool should reduce debate—not create more of it 16:39 When the margin for error gets smaller, clarity becomes your competitive advantage. 17:10 The practical next step 17:53 See Decision Tools examples at RetailSolved.com/DecisionTools . 18:37 The spreadsheet is not the product. The decision is.

329. Growth feels harder right now. That does not necessarily mean your brand, product, mission, or founder instincts are broken. The environment around the business changed, and the margin for error got smaller. Sales may be growing while cash still feels tight. Promotions may move volume while compressing margin. Shoppers may still love the brand but buy it less often, wait for a promotion, or make different choices at the kitchen table. Dan Lohman explains why the old playbook is less forgiving and why stronger decision quality has become one of the most important ways CPG founders can protect runway. You will learn: Why sales growth does not always make the business stronger How changing shopper behavior affects founder economics Why reports often explain the pressure too late How Retail Clarity connects internal, shopper, competitive, and predictive signals Your brand may not be broken. The margin for error got smaller. Start with the free 15-Minute CPG Runway Leak Finder™ : RetailSolved.com/leakfinder This is the Understand chapter of the Retail Clarity series. Retail Clarity Series Podcast playlist 328: Listen 329: Understand 330: Decide 331: Build ⏰ Timecode 03:03 Growth feels harder right now because: 04:10 Solving todays problems with yesterdays playbook can get expensive 05:58 Shoppers are doing their own version of runway management 06:46 Shoppers need your brand to make sense inside their current reality 07:44 One of the biggest traps in CPG 08:57 That is what Retail Clarity Decision Tools are built to do 09:31 The promotion example founders need to understand 11:12 The four questions that change the conversation 11:46 Why the Shopper Signal Flywheel™ becomes so important 12:55 The old playbook was more forgiving 14:20 The leak is not always obvious 15:29 What founders should do now

328. Your sales report may be one of the last places you learn that the shopper changed. By the time velocity slows, repeat purchase weakens, or a retailer starts asking harder questions, the shopper may have already made a different decision. This episode uses trade shows as a practical example, but the bigger lesson is not really about trade shows. It is about turning shopper conversations, demos, email replies, community engagement, buyer questions, and event follow-up into a listening system. Dan Lohman explains why your email list should be more than a coupon channel and how better signal capture can help your team understand what shoppers are thinking before the numbers finally explain it. You will learn: Why sales reports often reveal shopper change too late How to capture useful signals from conversations and events Why segmentation makes follow-up more relevant How email can strengthen relationships, validate ideas, and create retail proof The event creates the moment. Your system creates the return. Download the free Shopper Signal Flywheel™ at: RetailSolved.com/guide31 This is the Listen chapter of the Retail Clarity series. Retail Clarity Series Podcast playlist 328: Listen 329: Understand 330: Decide 331: Build ⏰ Timecode 02:17 What most founders already know but few will say out-loud 04:03 The problem: brands think the show is the strategy. It is not 05:17 When runway is tight, hope gets expensive. 06:14 Booth traffic ≠ the win. The win is what happens next 07:31 A good follow-up system does three things 08:15 Make the comment personnel and memorable 09:02 And that is the bigger opportunity I want founders to see 09:52 Imagine the buyer may thinking, "I have been waiting for this." 10:33 But there is a second layer 11:39 That is another reason trade show follow-up matters 13:21 With it, the show becomes an asset 13:42 Get more value from the money you are already spending 14:14 Think about every trade show in three stages 15:32 An email system can bridge the show and more 17:55 The show gives you the moment.The system creates the return. 19:19 Download the free guide at: RetailSolved.com/guide31

327. What if your biggest growth opportunity isn't another retailer? What if it's the customers you already have? In this episode, Chrissy Hammer, co-founder and CEO of Sunshine Buns, shares her journey from family recipe to national retail expansion. She shares the story behind Sunshine Buns, the lessons she's learned scaling a founder-led brand, and why the future belongs to brands that build authentic communities, create meaningful customer relationships, and turn shoppers into loyal advocates. We discuss: • Community building • Founder storytelling • Authenticity • First-party customer data • Email marketing strategy • Customer co-creation • Hiring the right team • Scaling without losing your brand One of the biggest lessons: Most brands collect customer emails. Very few build customer relationships. And that difference may determine who wins in the future. Download the free The Shopper Signal Flywheel™ at https://RetailSolved.com/guide31 ⏰ Timecodes 02:04 The DNA and Legacy of Sunshine Buns 06:39 The origin behind our story, why this matters 08:47 Why founders need and want guidance 10:06 How a lean team drives explosive growth 12:25 How A+ talent is an import growth accelerator 14:56 Why founders need to drive strategy - what that looks like 16:25 How to amplify your message through others 18:45 The achilles heal of every brand - don't let this derail you 20:23 The importance of having a solid brand universe 21:47 How to turn an email platform into a strategic growth lever 2641 The benefit of building strategy around loyal customer feedback 28:04 Where my genuine authenticity come from - why it matters 34:16 Why tenacity matters - how it drive results 37:49 Embracing the journey - growing and becoming more as CEO 44:39 Your brand is a promise delivered

326. Most founders believe growth solves problems. More distribution. More retailers. More sales. More opportunities. But what if growth isn't the thing that's putting pressure on your business? What if the real problem is complexity? In this episode, I sit down with Mike Fata, founder of Manitoba Harvest and author of Grow , to discuss one of the most overlooked challenges facing entrepreneurial brands today. Scaling. Not the exciting part. The messy part. The part where communication breaks down. Departments become disconnected. Priorities drift. Execution suffers. And founders find themselves working harder while feeling less in control. Mike shares the systems, rhythms, governance structures, leadership disciplines, and planning processes that helped him scale Manitoba Harvest into a $100 million business and what he teaches founders today through his mentoring and advisory work. We discuss: • Why growth creates complexity • How communication breaks down as teams scale • The Rhythm of Scale framework • Why governance is not a corporate exercise • The transition from founder to CEO • How to buy back your time • The role of KPIs and scorecards • Why planning matters more than hustle • How founders can avoid scaling chaos • Why sustainable growth requires alignment One of my favorite takeaways: Most founders don't need more opportunities. They need more capacity to absorb the opportunities they already have. Because growth doesn't break brands. Complexity does. And clarity is what helps you scale through it. ⏰ Timecodes 03:26 The founder bottleneck 04:42 The brand story - why it matters 05:38 The secret to effective communication 07:49 Lack of surprises - how to avoid problem 08:42 What changes at $1M, $5M, $10M, and beyond 12:15 What does the founder need to stop doing personally 14:21 The value of a founder's time 16:41 The real value of a work life balance 18:48 The danger of scaling chaos 22:02 The power of AI in CPG 24:27 The value of scorecards and KPI's 26:12 KPI's are the roadmap to success 28:17 Founder education versus founder obedience 30:30 Mastery - a founders superpower 32:16 Building a company buyers want

325. Retailers don't reward the biggest mission. They reward the clearest value. What happens when one of the most influential founders in natural products decides to start over? In this episode, I sit down with Seth Goldman, founder of Honest Tea and co-founder of Just Ice Tea, to discuss what it takes to build a mission-driven brand in today's retail environment. We explore: • Why Honest Tea's discontinuation created an unexpected opportunity • How Just Ice Tea scaled faster than Honest Tea did in its early years • Why retailers actively sought out the brand when shelves went empty • The importance of authenticity and transparency • Why mission alone is not enough • How mission-driven brands can create profitable category growth • The pressure today's shoppers are facing • Why value and values must work together • What founders can learn from the changing retail landscape One of my favorite moments in the conversation is Seth's reminder that consumers can tell when a brand's mission is authentic—and when it isn't. Because the brands that endure don't just sell products. They stand for something bigger. And they consistently deliver value for the shopper, the retailer, and the communities they serve. Time Codes 01:57 38 Mission-Driven Brands Win at Retail With Seth Goldman, Honest Tea and Beyond Meat 02:40 The story of Honest Tea 05:00 How Coke failed Honest Tea 06:14 How we are growing Just Ice Tea 07:31 Mission-driven brands - a strategic growth lever 10:09 How to operate in a challenging economy 12:04 How the tea category changed - the opportunity for Just Ice Tea 13:48 Growing the category with innovation - connecting with consumers 16:18 The importance of authentic consistent messaging 17:45 The mission behind the brand - doing real good! 19:35 Giving back - Mission Guardians 20:39 Why is plant-based struggling 25:05 The importance of meeting the consumer where they are 26:16 The importance of transparency 28:52 What makes Just Ice Tea unique - how we make it 30:55 Our goal to democratize organic and healthier drinks + do good 33:58 What's next for Just Ice Tea 36:11 Labeling confusing + why organic, the gold standard

324. Sales are up. Distribution is expanding. Retailers are saying yes. The team is working harder than ever. So why does cash still feel tight? In this episode, Dan Lohman explores one of the biggest blind spots facing entrepreneurial CPG brands today: Growth is not the same as health. The market has changed. The shopper has changed. And many of the assumptions founders relied on for years no longer work the same way they once did. You'll learn: • Why revenue growth can be misleading • How the shopper contract has changed • Why sales are not the same as cash • The danger of false signals inside your business • How top-line growth can hide operational problems • The four growth leaks quietly draining runway • How the Retail Clarity Framework™ helps founders make better decisions Dan also shares the story of a rapidly growing founder who discovered that expansion was creating more pressure than leverage—and why asking "Can I afford this growth?" may be more important than asking "How do I grow faster?" Because growth can hide problems. Volatility exposes them. And Retail Clarity helps you find them before they become expensive. Download the free 15-Minute CPG Runway Leak Finder™ at RetailSolved.com/findleaks ⏰ Timecodes 02:00 the most important conversations founders need to have 02:16 And this is the blindspot most brands did not see coming. 03:02 This is why sales growth can be so misleading right now 04:02 Sometimes growth actually hides the problem. 04:05 And when markets become volatile, those hidden problems suddenly become much more expensive. 04:40 But in a volatile market, those same gaps become expensive much faster 05:14 The Shopper Contract Has Changed 06:39 This is why sales data alone is not enough 06:47 And right now, what changed may be the most important question you can ask 08:05 Because revenue growth can make a business look healthier than it really is 03:32 The point is that founders need to own their strategy 09:27 The real question is: 09:49 One of the most dangerous things in business is a false signal 10:44 Because shoppers are actively recalculating value 13:07 Because most brands are not suffering from a lack of data 13:10 They are suffering from a lack of visibility 13:43 Internal data does not tell you what happened in the shopper's world 15:28 This is where smaller brands can compete smarter 18:04 Because data tells you what happened 18:06 Retail Clarity tells you what to do next 18:50 Because you cannot fix what you cannot see 18:56 The goal is to grow with clarity 19:00 The goal is to stop funding what is not working 19:05 The goal is to build a healthier business 19:07 That distinction matters now more than ever 19:28 Because if shoppers are rethinking old habits, they are also open to better solutions 19:30 That is where emerging brands can still win 19:47 The brands that win will be the brands that understand 20:29 RetailSolved.com/findleaks

323. The brands that win long term are rarely the brands chasing short-term trends. They are the brands that understand: • changing shopper behavior • emerging category shifts • evolving health priorities • and how to position products before the market fully catches up In this episode, I sit down with Suzie Yorke to discuss: • functional foods • healthier chocolate • category evolution • founder-led innovation • brand positioning • scaling mission-based brands • emerging health trends • and what smaller brands can learn from large CPG experience Suzie shares her journey from: • Procter & Gamble • Heinz • Weight Watchers • and other major CPG leadership roles… …to launching mission-driven brands focused on solving real consumer needs. We also discuss: • why positioning matters more than most founders realize • how category trends evolve • why healthier chocolate is becoming a major opportunity • what founders still misunderstand about the first 3 Ps • how mission-based brands build stronger loyalty • and why founder conviction matters during uncertainty One of the biggest takeaways: The brands that deeply understand where the shopper is going gain an enormous advantage before competitors fully react. Download the free 15-Minute CPG Runway Leak Finder™ at RetailSolved.com/findleaks ⏰ Timecodes 04:43 Why Love Good Fats 06:30 New trend shifts To watch 08:23 The move to fractional opportunities 09:59 The lead up to the The Little Cacao Co 12:37 Cacao beans are full or health flavanols 15:54 About the healthier chocolate that comes from the land 17:58 My superpower - building a brand. I got the 3P's 20:05 The line of great tasting vitamins 20:47 Developing the proof of concept 21:04 The added benefit of better absorption 21:24 The magic behind our sleep 21:52 Our functional chocolate with protein 26:17 Major changes in the cacao landscape 30:44 My mission to help entrepreneurial brands - how I help 36:10 How to leverage AI in your CPG business 42:20 Were to find The Little Cacao Co

322. Most CPG founders are feeling pressure from every direction right now. Costs are rising. Retailers expect more. Promotions are harder to predict. Shoppers are becoming more cautious. And margins are getting compressed everywhere. The dangerous part? Many founders react before they fully understand where the pressure is actually coming from. And that confusion gets expensive. In this episode, I break down the real reason growth feels harder right now — even when sales are increasing — and why most brands do not have a spend problem. They have a visibility problem. I also unpack the four pillars of the Retail Clarity Framework™: • Internal — What happened? • Shopper — Why did it happen? • Competitive — What influenced it? • Predictive — What should happen next? We discuss: • hidden profit leaks • promotion ROI • execution gaps • deduction prevention • retailer trust • shopper behavior • category dynamics • decision quality • margin protection • and how smaller brands can compete smarter without bigger budgets Before you raise more money, find the money already leaking inside your business. Download the free 15-Minute CPG Runway Leak Finder™ at RetailSolved.com/findleaks 👉 Listen to the full episode 322 Margins Tightening? It's Not What You Think. Listen on the podcast page: https://RetailSolved.com/session322 ⏰ Timecodes 03:09 WHY THIS MATTERS RIGHT NOW 04:06 Now consider this, That is a CPG margin problem 04:43 But that does not mean smaller brands are powerless 04:53 THE ORIGIN OF RETAIL CLARITY 06:04 And where there is a blind spot… There is usually a leak 06:09 You cannot fix what you cannot clearly see 06:17 THE QUESTION THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING 06:48 That question is the heart of Retail Clarity. 07:16 The brands that understand that gain an unfair competitive advantage 07:20 The Retail Clarity Framework has four pillars 08:02 This is where brands start leaking: 08:29 Retailers want: 09:12 Retailers reward clarity. They reward brands that help them win. 09:53 This is where smaller brands can beat larger brands 11:48 This is where the first three pillars come together 12:18 And when uncertainty increases, decision quality matters more 12:51 Getting on the shelf is the easy part. The hard work begins 13:36 But something didn't feel right to me 15:12 Whenever a retailer adds or removes items from a category, 15:25 when shoppers stop finding what they want, they often … 16:15 Now let's recap what happened 16:30 Think about the difference between those two outcomes 16:41 And here's why this matters so much right now 17:11 And this is how you build an unfair competitive advantage. 17:18 Here are three leaks founders should evaluate this week 18:00 And many deductions begin much earlier than brands realize 19:21 And if you want help identifying those leaks, 19:32 Go to: RetailSolved.com/findleaks 19:52 The goal is to stop funding what is not working 20:08 Smaller brands absolutely can compete in this environment

321. But very few spend enough time thinking about what happens AFTER manufacturing. And that blind spot quietly creates: • operational friction • retailer problems • deduction exposure • execution failures • damaged customer experiences • and hidden profit leaks In this episode, I sit down with Caitlin to discuss why operational clarity, fulfillment, packaging, communication, and execution discipline matter far more than most founders realize. We discuss: • how fulfillment impacts retailer trust • why operational mistakes create downstream margin pressure • hidden costs most founders never calculate • how poor execution quietly drains runway • direct-to-consumer vs wholesale fulfillment strategy • preventing deductions before they happen • why details like packaging, counts, labels, and communication matter • and how better operational systems help brands compete smarter This episode is packed with practical advice founders can apply immediately to improve execution, reduce friction, and protect runway. Download the free 15-Minute CPG Runway Leak Finder™ at RetailSolved.com/findleaks . No friction, no email required. ⏰ Timecodes 00:06 The importance of influencer and buyer boxes 03:33 We solve: the lack of support for brands with fulfillment 05:35 Why you need the execution of the orders 07:20 What brands need to know to be successful 08:44 We specialize in DTC white glove approach 10:13 We are an extension of your brand 11:38 We simplify how your brand is represented 12:39 How your brand aligns with your COGS - with fulfillment 13:26 We show you what's possible 15:59 We provide another set of eyes - a different perspective 17:12 We want things to be perfect for you 18:19 We help you with retail operational strategy 19:59 We help make retail execution frictionless 20:49 You need to know who you are selling to, including the retailer 22:49 Why you need an EDI partner and what does that mean 24:57 Why you need to know your retailers expectations 27:06 Why you need to ask good questions with buyers 29:03 Why attention to every detail matters 36:00 What comes next 37:34 Why great partnerships matter

320. Margins are tighter. Costs are rising. Retailers still expect performance. And most founders are working harder just to maintain momentum. But here's the uncomfortable truth: Most brands do not have a spend problem. They have a clarity problem. In this episode, I break down why so many CPG brands are quietly leaking: cash margin execution retailer trust visibility and decision quality We discuss: why dashboards alone do not create clarity how hidden operational leaks compound over time why many promotions subsidize sales instead of creating demand how retailers actually evaluate your brand the 7 hidden leaks draining runway and how the Retail Clarity Framework™ helps founders compete smarter This is one of the most important strategic episodes I've recorded because it changes how founders think about growth, trade spend, execution, and profitability. Download the free 15-Minute CPG Runway Leak Finder™ at RetailSolved.com Listen to the entire Bulletproof Your CPG Brand episode at RetailSolved.com /session320 #CPG #RetailStrategy #TradeMarketing #RetailExecution #ShopperInsights #CategoryManagement #BrandGrowth #RetailClarity ⏰ Timecodes 00:16 founders ask "Why does it feel like we're working harder just to maintain momentum?" 01:56 The real problem 02:43 Now consider this 03:16 Let me give you some context 04:03 But margin pressure is: 04:46 This is one of the biggest blind spots in CPG right now 05:15 In stable environments, historical data can often guide future decisions reasonably well 05:21 But this is not a stable environment 05:42 And incomplete context creates expensive decisions 06:29 RETAILERS SEE THIS DIFFERENTLY 07:37 THE RETAIL CLARITY FRAMEWORK 07:52 1. Internal — What happened? 08:13 2. Shopper — Why did it happen? 08:56 3. Competitive — What influenced it? 09:31 4. Predictive — What should we do next? 09:54 THE 7 HIDDEN LEAKS 12:31 Here is a strategic reframe 13:56 Here are some actionable takeaways 15:02 Here's something that will help