Just found the Food Biz Wiz podcast? Welcome, wiz! My name is Alli and I’m a former wholesale buyer turned wholesale consultant and the creator of Retail Ready®. We help CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands with how to land on more shelves and have high sales once you’re there. You can expect to hear tons of honest, industry insider information, tough love, and advice for building a business that works for you! Check out our Listener Guide HERE to find the most relevant content for your...

  Welcome to the 250th episode of the Food Biz Wiz podcast, wizes! We are thrilled to have published 250 episodes of valuable, hard-to-access information from the packaged food and beverage industry.   As it’s our last episode, this episode is a bit different. It’s a short welcome episode for those just discovering the Food Biz Wiz Podcast Library for the first time. You’ll hear me share more about...   How you can navigate our hundreds of podcast episodes with our BRAND NEW listener...

Download the Food Biz Wiz Listener Guide and make the most out of our 250 episode library! Get our curated playlists of top episodes on sales pitches, wholesale buyers, founder mindset, marketing, and more. Fast track your learning by downloading our free Listener Guide HERE. Wizes, we have some BIG news that we’ve been sitting on: episode 250 will be the last new episode of the Food Biz Wiz Podcast. We were a little bit nervous about how you would receive this news, but we want to tell you...

Download the Food Biz Wiz Listener Guide and make the most out of our 250 episode library! Get our curated playlists of top episodes on sales pitches, wholesale buyers, founder mindset, marketing, and more. Fast track your learning by downloading our free Listener Guide HERE. Retail Ready is OPEN FOR ENROLLMENT!  Wizes – yes, we’re talking to you! – if you listen to this podcast and it’s exactly the information you need…then imagine what it’d be like to get expert CPG biz advice, tailored...

Download the Food Biz Wiz Listener Guide and make the most out of our 250 episode library! Get our curated playlists of top episodes on sales pitches, wholesale buyers, founder mindset, marketing, and more. Fast track your learning by downloading our free Listener Guide HERE. Even though Alli hosts guests on the Food Biz Wiz podcast frequently, she is rarely the one being interviewed. This episode, we turn the tables on Alli and ask her to share the story behind how she got her buyer...

Download the Food Biz Wiz Listener Guide and make the most out of our 250 episode library! Get our curated playlists of top episodes on sales pitches, wholesale buyers, founder mindset, marketing, and more. Fast track your learning by downloading our free Listener Guide HERE. We have recently shared some of the mistakes that we see founders make in retail…now what about good starting points? In this episode of the Food Biz Wiz podcast, Alli focuses on THREE of her most important retail...

The opportunity to sell our products in a franchise seems like a no-brainer. Right? Well, there is usually more to consider: distribution, our production capacity, and more! That’s why we’re so excited to share this “Is It Worth It, Charlie?” episode where Charlie and Natalia, the founder and owner of Curious Cat Bakery, discuss just this. As Natalia thinks through whether she should start selling her frozen vegan croissants to a local franchise, you’ll hear more about…   The main...

We know. When someone tells you what not to do, it’s easy to tune them out. Maybe they aren’t in your position or they don’t have experience with your challenges. But it’s quite the opposite in today’s episode. Charlie Berkinshaw, the founder and CEO of Element Shrub and our VP of Student Success here at Retail Ready®, joins Alli to discuss the top 3 mistakes he sees food founders make. Charlie has been running Element Shrub for over 9 years as a solopreneur, which means that he knows...

Psst, before we tell you about the episode: Food Biz Wiz is hosting Wholesale Week from Monday, June 3rd - Friday, June 7th! Wholesale Week is our 5-day FREE online workshop for food, bev, and taxable grocery brands that want a solid starting point for a smart retail strategy. With 10 minute, bite-sized lessons, it’s easy to participate. Register at the link here! Now, back to this episode!   Online, on TV, and from your next door neighbor, you’ll hear tons of financial advice for your...

Psst, before we tell you about the episode: Food Biz Wiz is hosting Wholesale Week from Monday, June 3rd - Friday, June 7th! Wholesale Week is our 5-day FREE online workshop for food, bev, and taxable grocery brands that want a solid starting point for a smart retail strategy. With 10 minute, bite-sized lessons, it’s easy to participate. Register at the link here! Now, back to this episode!   We can all agree: it’s TOO easy to dust off a box of Girl Scout cookies. So when Girl Scout cookie...

Hearing "your SKU is underperforming" from a retailer can easily put brands into a panic. It's natural. We don't want to be on the chopping block when category reviews come around.   That's why we're thrilled to share this "Is It Worth It, Charlie?" episode. In it, Mary Bentdahl, the Co-Founder, CMO, and Director of Sales for ShroomEats, joins Charlie to discuss how she was able to react and to adjust when she heard from a retailer that one of their SKUs was underperforming. You'll hear...

The Portland Good Food Mercantile is coming up soon and we know that tons of tasty food brands will be attending. As you prepare for this trade show and other trade shows, you might wonder…what do I really need to BE prepared for these shows?   That’s why we’re revisiting this episode with Joyce Attar. Joyce is the Director of Operations and member of the family that owns and operates Barbur World Foods, World Foods, and Ya Hala in Portland, Oregon. She’s also a member of the Good Food...

Have you heard these myths about creating memorable brand names? Myth 1: All the good names are taken. Myth 2: It's too late to change your name. Myth 3: A name isn't that important. Well in this week's Food Biz Wiz episode, Alexandra Watkins, the Chief Executive Boss Lady of Eat My Words and a leading & outspoken authority on brand names, joins us to debunk these myths! In this episode, you'll hear all about...   What Alexandra's “SMILE & SCRATCH Test” is for creating names Why...

We are back this week with part II of last week’s episode 237 with Kai Nortey! In this episode 238 of the Food Biz Wiz podcast, you’ll continue to hear Kai and Alli discuss more about Kai’s transparent, no sugarcoat experiences as a CPG founder.   If you missed part I in last week’s episode, we recommend that you check out that episode first! Kai Nortey is the CEO & Co-Founder of kubé, PBC (Public Benefit Corporation). Kubé is a Black woman-owned artisanal, premium, and luxurious...

The CPG industry remains OPAQUE in many ways. It can feel hard to enter it prepared. That's why we're thrilled to have Kai Nortey, the CEO & Co-Founder of kubé, PBC (Public Benefit Corporation) join us to bring a transparent look at how she has built her business to work for her. kubé is a Black woman-owned artisanal, premium, and luxurious full-fat coconut ice cream womanfacturer and social enterprise, based in Oakland, California. They make their own clean, full-fat coconut cream from...

We are thrilled to continue celebrating female founders' businesses and their CPG wisdom during this Women’s History Month. In this week’s episode of the Food Biz Wiz Podcast, we’re sharing our conversation with Tonia Farman, CEO and Co-Founder of Queen of Hearts, which makes the world’s first sustainable salad dressing, made with hemp seeds. Tonia’s business is rooted in creating a positive impact for our food system. She has navigated multiple challenges and wins in her biz, so you’ll...

Busy caregivers, busy founders, busy people have at least ONE thing in common. They all deserve healthy AND delicious snacks to fuel them! This is part of what propels B.T.R. NATION. In this episode of the Food Biz Wiz Podcast, I’m sitting down with Ashley Nickelsen, the Founder, CEO, and Chief Snack Officer of B.T.R. NATION. They are on a mission to help fix our broken food system one snack at a time! I am thrilled for Ashley to share her story and how she has built B.T.R NATION (plus...

Today's guest on the Food Biz Wiz podcast is Skyler Mapes, the Cofounder and CEO of EXAU, a high-quality Italian olive oil brand. Skyler has been named a Forbes 30 Under 30 and has grown EXAU by 6x over the past 6 years. Still, Skyler says "no" to constant growth and expansion. In this episode, we are thrilled to share our conversation on her journey to this point and the lessons that she has learned, including... Why the "slowness" of the food industry is relative and how you can use it...

Most people don't believe me when I say this, but here’s a secret of mine: I am actually an introvert. I often dread the small talk of industry events and how draining these events can sometimes feel. But over years of attending industry events, I've come up with a game plan that has made attending events both more fun AND more valuable. In this episode, I'll share my tried and true game plan with you, including... The THREE steps that I take to ensure a more mindful and impactful time...

In business, we often feel that we might have to compromise on our values to see our brands grow. But on the Food Biz Wiz podcast, we want to highlight how you can still grow your brand AND center your values. That’s why in today’s Original Recipe episode, we are excitedly revisiting our episode with Ibraheem Basir, the CEO and founder of A Dozen Cousins. A Dozen Cousins produces delicious packaged beans, rices, and sauces inspired by Black and Latino recipes from throughout the...

We often get into this trap of thinking: we've put hours of work in, so the sales will automatically follow. Right? The truth is that it's not always a 1:1 relationship, especially in e-commerce. That's why we're thrilled to have Maureen Mwangi, the Founder of Startward Consulting, e-commerce expert and brand strategist behind many of America's most beloved brands, join us on the Food Biz Wiz Podcast today! In today's episode, she shares multiple ways that you can architect your SKUs,...

As we enter February and celebrate Black History Month with our Food Biz Wiz community, we are excited to revisit this episode with CPG industry veteran Sheryl O’Loughlin on how we can cultivate an inclusive CPG industry that supports Black futures and represents all of us! Sheryl is the co-founder of the JEDI (justice, equity, diversity and inclusion) Collaborative, the Women on Boards Project, former CEO of REBBL and Clif Bar and Company, and co-founder and former CEO Plum...

We are back with our first “Is It Worth It, Charlie?” episode of 2024, with Karen Hetz. Karen is the Chief Happiness Officer of Kids’ Cake Boxes and she joins Charlie to discuss how she can decide what’s next for her business on the heels of her business’ third anniversary. Tune in to hear more about… What questions we can ask ourselves to orient how we move forward Why looking back at our original “why” can inform our future How we can rethink what it means to be successful in business...

Welcome to our first episode of season 20 of the Food Biz Wiz Podcast, wizes! As promised, we are kicking off this season with Sarah Davidson. Sarah is the Executive Vice President of ECRM, which connects producers with retail buyers through hybrid and in-person buyer meeting events. In her role at ECRM, Sarah has seen 1000s of buyer pitches. In this episode, you’ll hear… How ECRM connects the right buyers and the right suppliers through their events Common traits of the most successful...