Claim OwnershipNombase Podcast
Subscribed: 4Played: 34
Subscribe
© 2025
Description
BevNET presents: The Nombase CPG podcast, a series featuring open discussions on pressing topics impacting food and beverage businesses. Each episode explores a key issue in the CPG industry, offering timely insights, tactical advice, and community discussion. Join the live podcast recording to ask your questions and share your comments directly with our guests, or catch up on past podcast episodes anytime.
112 Episodes
Reverse
Private label has become one of the most prominent forces shaping CPG retail today. As retailers face margin pressure, shifting consumer behavior, and increased competition, store brands are no longer an add on. They are a core strategic priority. We are rerunning this episode with Kim Greenfeld - formerly of Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market, now founder of Campo Verde Solutions. Kim will explain private label business from the retailer's side to help brands understand how and why these decisions are made. You'll hear about how private label plays in assortment strategy, margin management, data ownership, and customer loyalty, and what that means for national and emerging CPG brands competing for shelf space.
Airline partnerships are a unique growth channel for food and beverage brands — and they operate very differently from traditional retail or on-premise sales. They offer unmatched consumer attention, meaningful trial, and widespread visibility, but they also come with their own rules around procurement, logistics, forecasting, and data access. In this episode, Cy Cain, co-founder of Straightaway Cocktail Co., shares a behind-the-scenes look at what it actually takes to work with an airline. From pitching and onboarding to forecasting demand, navigating compliance, and scaling operations, you'll find out how airline programs function in practice, and how brands can evaluate whether this channel makes sense for their business.
Amazon is one of the most powerful growth channels for CPG brands, but the rules are change fast. New fulfillment approaches, evolving advertising tools, and deeper access to customer data are reshaping how food and beverage brands compete on the platform. In this episode with Straight Up Growth, find out what's changing on Amazon heading into 2026 and how those shifts affect growth strategy. The conversation covers grocery and fresh delivery, advertising and measurement updates, and how brands can use data to make smarter decisions about spend, product focus, and long term profitability.
Distributor deductions can be overwhelming, but understanding them is essential to running a healthy CPG business. Jenna Oviedo, founder of JAVE Insights, and Greg Esslinger of Floret. Together they explain the mechanics behind deductions, the patterns that lead to costly mistakes, and the dispute paths that actually work. You'll learn how distributors calculate and apply deductions, why certain fees are unavoidable while others are preventable, and how to manage relationships with supplier managers, buyers, and retailers when issues arise.
In this special crossover episode of the Nombase podcast and Taste Radio, Lucía Conejo Mir of Inés Rosales, the century old Spanish bakery behind the classic torta de aceite, and Jennifer Donnellan of Lakrids by Bülow, the Danish confectionery introducing Americans to chocolate coated licorice, share their journeys bringing their European CPG brands to the United States. One brand has spent decades establishing its presence here, while the other is just beginning its intentional expansion, yet both face similar challenges in adapting heritage products for a new audience, navigating price pressures and logistics, and educating consumers in a crowded market. They open up about the work required to succeed in the U.S. while staying true to the traditions that make their products special.
Cannabis beverage is a growing category but it comes with plenty of unexpected twists and turns. Success starts with what you can control, and in this category, that begins with the formulation. SoRSE Technology transforms cannabinoids into safe, stable, water compatible ingredients that make consistent commercial scale beverages possible. Michael Flemmens, Executive Vice President of Research and Technical Business Development at SoRSE, dives deep into the science, operations, and real world challenges behind building cannabis beverages that consumers trust and brands can grow.
TikTok offers a big opportunity for food and beverage brands, but it also brings real challenges. It moves fast, culture shifts daily, and creativity matters more than polish, all while the path from discovery to purchase gets shorter. In this episode, Mike Westgate, Vertical Director of Food, Beverage and Alcohol at TikTok, shares what he has learned as the platform has grown into a major space for discovery, community, and commerce. He breaks down discovery commerce, the role creators play as an extension of your sales force, the creative tools that help brands produce content efficiently, and the trends shaping what people buy. Mike also touches on organic versus paid content, early mover advantages, and how brands of every size can compete on the platform.
With new regulations expanding the use of glass in spirits-based RTDs and growing consumer demand for clean, quality packaging, glass has reemerged as a strategic advantage. Join the Glass Packaging Institute, Jimmy Bruton of Via Carota, and Sandstrom Partners to learn why glass is non-toxic, inert, and the most sustainable material, especially when domestically made. Discover how glass affects consumer perception, protects product integrity, helps brands innovate and stand out, appeals to health-conscious consumers, and how to navigate its unique challenges.
It's hard to build a brand when the rules keep changing, and few categories test founders like the emerging cannabis beverage space. Hear how Anna Baskin, co-founder of hightail., a newly launched low-dose beverage designed for women, and Angus Rittenburg, co-founder and CEO of Wynk, an established brand known for its consistent quality and innovative mobile production model, are tackling that challenge. They share how they're building trust in a category still defining itself, navigating complex regulations and limited ad options, educating consumers who are new and cautious, and using storytelling, sampling, and community events to drive awareness - demonstrating how you can grow a brand even when the playbook doesn't yet exist.
Investors all want to see your data, but how and what you present can make or break the deal. In this episode, Edricco Reina of BeyondRoots Growth Partners and Taylor Urlich of Whipstitch Capital break down exactly what investors look for and how to make your numbers tell the right story. Taylor shares Whipstitch's standard data request list, giving you an inside look at what happens behind the scenes, as we walk through where the green lights and red flags are for investors and how to present your brand in the best possible light.
Brain health is emerging as one of the biggest functional trends in food and beverage, as consumers look for ways to support focus, clarity, and long-term cognitive function through what they eat and drink. In this episode, Sephora Noormand of MOSH, Katie Emerson of Kyowa Hakko (makers of Cognizin®), Austin Holt of MacroCap Labs, and Josh Schall of J. Schall Consulting discuss how brands are leveraging science-backed ingredients like Cognizin® to build credibility and consumer trust, the role of clinical research in substantiating functional claims, and how innovation in brain-boosting foods, beverages, and supplements is reshaping the future of functional formulation. This episode is a paid collaboration with Cognizin®.
Brandon Lennox of Lemon Perfect, Neha Soi of BERO, and Vivian Keena of Luxent share how timing, technology, and the right partners can define a brand's growth curve. They open up about scaling challenges, system decisions, and the pivotal role an ERP like NetSuite played in transforming their operations. From manual chaos to structured efficiency, their stories reveal what happens when growth outpaces infrastructure, and how investing early in the right systems can prevent the hidden cost of waiting. This episode is a paid collaboration with Luxent.
Faire is a wholesale platform that connects brands with sellers, and it's becoming one of the most effective ways for CPG founders to grow, scale, and build lasting relationships with small and independent retailers. Joining the conversation are Kyle Hughes, who leads retailer partnerships at Faire, and Caroline Grace, founder of Product and Prosper & The Prosper Lab, who helps brands refine their strategies and boost sales on the platform. Together, they reveal how top-performing brands are turning Faire into a powerful growth engine: optimizing listings, building retailer loyalty, and driving consistent revenue.
Painterland Sisters has gone from maxing out credit cards on a family dairy farm in Pennsylvania to closing a seven-figure seed round and landing national distribution. Co-founders Stephanie and Hayley Painter share how they built the brand, navigated the shock of a withdrawn bank loan, and raised from both hundreds of community investors and institutional backers. Joining them is Kevin Griffith, fractional CFO with AmpliFi, who helped structure their Wefunder campaign, SAFE note, and seed round. Together they break down the real tactics behind crowdfunding, SAFE structures, working capital for perishables, and keeping a complex cap table aligned.
After Flow Water's recent foreclosure left many co-packing customers scrambling, the need for smart co-manufacturing risk management has never been clearer. Brad Woodgate, founder of Joyburst, The No Sugar Company, and Wellnx Life Sciences, joins Brandon Hernandez, co-founder of Whole Brain Consulting, to share how founders can protect their brands from co-manufacturing disasters. Listeners will learn to spot early warning signs, build redundancy into manufacturing, evaluate packaging risks, and safeguard raw materials and equipment during shutdowns or foreclosures. The conversation also covers the contract clauses that matter most, how to vet facilities, why geography and capacity strategy affect growth, and how scorecards and pre-launch planning keep operations on track.
THC and CBD fueled the early growth of the cannabis beverage world, but today an expanding palette of cannabinoids is giving formulators license to design experiences that build a feeling and create distinct mood states. Cannabis brand FABRIC's Tom Eddleston, Magic Cactus founder Jonny Locarni and SōRSE Technology's Michael Flemmens explore how minor cannabinoids and other emerging compounds are reshaping flavor, feel and functionality, discussing the science behind emulsions, stability and sourcing while sharing real-world lessons from building next-generation drinks. Find out how minor cannabinoids shape mood, how formulation choices influence flavor and effect, and how evolving regulations are driving the next wave of innovation.
Alejandro González, managing partner of Redwood Group and Santatera Capital, explains how the fund chooses which food and beverage brands to back. He outlines why flavor matters most, what healthy margins look like, and how distribution drives growth. González also shares how Santatera supports founders with research, recruiting, governance, and supply chain expertise. He discusses what an ideal exit looks like for the fund and gives an inside look at why they recently invested in Sunnie, an allergen-free snack brand.
Foodservice can be a powerful marketing arm to lift retail and DTC, but only when brands choose the right partners and know how to use it to build awareness. Poorva and Rajus Korde, co-founders of Aaji's, join Clay Lichterman, VP of Business Development at Sol-ti and former chef, to explore both the opportunities and pitfalls for emerging brands. The group explores how to select the right segments and securing menu mentions to creating trial that ultimately drives retail velocity.
Is Wegmans on your radar? For many emerging CPG brands, cracking Wegmans is a dream, but timing, trends, and execution often decide who makes it. In this episode, Isabel Washington of Laurel's Coffee and Alexander Harik of Zesty Z share the real stories behind getting on Wegmans' shelves, from navigating distributors to building velocity without demos or promos. They're joined by Josh Cannon of Cultivate CPG, who brings years of experience guiding brands through the Wegmans process. Find out what buyers really want, how to pitch with confidence, and the strategies that turn "maybe" into yes.
Sunnie co-founders Katie Tucker and Lisette Howard recount their path from self-funding to securing a million-dollar raise, navigating manufacturing hurdles, investor rejections, and strategic pivots along the way. They discuss knowing when an investor is the right fit, structuring raises to protect equity, and using customer relationships to unlock capital. Their story highlights the persistence required to push through difficult moments, the signs that momentum is building, and the practical steps that helped them move from uncertainty to a stronger, more sustainable growth path.
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States