On this episode of The Barcode Podcast, Ben interviews Nick Ajluni & Nick Guillen, co-founders of Truff. The Nicks (as they are affectionally known) share their journey from early entrepreneurial inspirations to the founding of Truff, an unabas

Ben Ponder: CPG 101- Alphabet Soup & Economic Models

May 19th, 2020 41m 17s

How do you get up to speed when you're starting out in a CPG company? Whether you're new to consumer packaged goods because you're following your dream to start your own brand or whether you're joining an established CPG team from another indus

Mason Arnold: The Challenges of Rapid Growth

May 12th, 2020 1h 44m

Our guest today is Mason Arnold, the CEO of Cece’s Veggie Co. Mason shares his journey bringing foundational ingredients to meals through noodled veggies. With dietary restrictions and gluten allergies, many people need alternatives to a spaghe

Ryan Gravelle: Legal Considerations from Ideation to Exit

May 6th, 2020 1h 18m

On this episode of The Barcode Podcast, Ben Ponder interviews Ryan Gravelle of Kastner Gravelle. The goal of this conversation is to help entrepreneurs learn more about the important legal decisions and issues that could come up within their bu

Nelson Monteith: Serving the Customer

Apr 28th, 2020 1h 19m

Today on The Barcode Podcast, Ben is joined by Nelson Monteith, the restaurateur behind Honest Mary’s in Austin, Texas. You will hear about Nelson and his wife’s journey into the restaurant industry. Their goal was to offer quick, delicious, an

Steven Blustein: The Confidence to Pivot

Apr 21st, 2020 1h 32m

Today on The Barcode Podcast, Ben Ponder interviews Steven Blustein of PrideBites. Who wants to share more photos than a pet-parent? Almost nobody! - which is why this was such a great market for Steven Blustein to enter. Steven began working

Wes Hurt: One Day At a Time

Apr 14th, 2020 1h 47m

Today on The Barcode Podcast, we're talking with CLEAN Cause founder Wes Hurt. This is a candid conversation - Wes talks about his drug addiction and recovery that led to founding CLEAN, a sparkling yerba mate water with the mission to create a

Bryan Taylor: Drawing Customers In with Design

Apr 7th, 2020 1h 18m

How does a savvy brand think about design? While the logo and look and packaging of a CPG brand is important, there is so much more that goes into creating the visual identity of a brand. Bryan Taylor is the founder, creative director of Draw

Lyn Graft: Start With Story

Mar 31st, 2020 1h 39m

Today on The Barcode Podcast, we welcome Lyn Graft, a videographer, entrepreneur, and master of story. Lyn is the author of the book Start With Story: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Using Story to Build Your Business. As a videographer, Lyn is co

Carrie Lumb-Dewey: Marketing Like an Entrepreneur

Mar 24th, 2020 1h 15m

Today on The Barcode Podcast, we welcome guest Carrie Lumb-Dewey, who has decades of experience in CPG. Carrie walks us through her background in tax accounting, her position at Clorox, and her first few jobs after moving to Austin, Texas to ra

Scott Jensen: Learn By Doing

Mar 17th, 2020 2h 1m

My guest today on The Barcode Podcast is Scott Jensen of Rhythm Superfoods, a healthy-snack conglomerate with tons of different products on the shelf. He gives us a sneak peek into his story leading to where he is now. We hear some funny storie

Matt Bair: Success Is In the Details

Mar 13th, 2020 1h 22m

Part of your success as a CPG brand is your ability to surround yourself with a team that can help you win in the details where you may not be an expert. That could mean having a great accountant or financial controller, a good banking relation

Ben Ponder: Trade Show Pro Tips & Strategies

Mar 11th, 2020 54m 35s

Today we're going to do something a little bit different. Our initial plan was to spend some time really kind of going over what had happened at Expo West last week. Well, as many of you know, Expo West didn't happen. So instead, we're going t

Serenity Carr: Learning to Take Risks

Mar 3rd, 2020 1h 11m

Our guest today on The Barcode Podcast is Serenity Carr, co-founder, and CEO of Serenity Kids – a company that makes and sells paleo food for babies 6 months and up. In today's episode, like always, we take a sneak peek behind the curtain. We l

Taylor O'Neil: Sustainable Sourcing

Feb 26th, 2020 1h 4m

Today we are talking with Taylor O'Neil, CEO of Richard's Rainwater. Yes. Rainwater. After working on Wall Street for years, through a series of relationships and introductions, Taylor found himself running a rain collecting operation turned b

Caroline Freedman: From Idea to Exit

Feb 18th, 2020 1h 17m

We hear the stories of entrepreneurs coming up with a brilliant idea for a product, getting it to market and exiting to a large food conglomerate or private equity firm for millions of dollars and think that is always the way things go. The tru

Rick Wittenbraker: Creating a Tribe with an Immersive Brand

Feb 11th, 2020 1h 46m

This week on The Barcode Podcast, we're talking to Rick Wittenbraker and how he went from commodities trader to the Chief Marketing Officer for Howler Brothers - a design-driven, Austin, Texas based outdoor apparel company. A well-thought out,

Jessica Honegger: The Power of Gathering and Relationships

Feb 4th, 2020 1h 12m

Entrepreneurship starts with a problem to be solved. We often think that a product needs to be created to solve that problem, but that is not always the case. In Jessica Honegger's case, her company when she invited women into her home to creat

Maggie Louise Callahan: Elevating the World of Chocolate

Jan 28th, 2020 1h 26m

Maggie Louise Confections creates memorable experiences in gift-giving by creating customized, hand-painted chocolate pieces. After spending years as a mergers and acquisitions attorney, CEO and Creative Director Maggie Louise Callahan took her

Ryan Cummings: Carving Out a Specific Niche

Jan 21st, 2020 1h 39m

Be present. Be patient. Be content with where you are today. That might not sound like the typical frame of mind for a startup founder, but that mindset has allowed Ryan Cummings to create and grow a very specific niche that perfectly solves hi

Lilly Wunsch: Scaling a Disruptive Brand

Jan 14th, 2020 1h 47m

The Barcode Podcast is presented by Titanium CPG Insurance. Titanium protects forward-thinking consumer brands with a range of commercial insurance products and risk management services designed specifically for natural and organic food and bev

Daniel Nicholson: President/CEO of NadaMoo!

Jan 7th, 2020 1h 24m

Jeff Pinsker: The Business of Fun

Dec 24th, 2019 1h 57m

In honor of this holiday week, we’re going to pivot a bit and talk to a different founder outside the food and beverage space. Today we’re talking to Jeff Pinsker, CEO Amigo Games USA, which seemed an appropriate programming choice on this Chri

Lori Azevedo: Always Be Learning

Dec 17th, 2019 1h 18m

From her time managing big CPG brands in Compton to bringing Peet's Coffee to a wider national audience to her current role helping launch Republica Organic Coffee in the United States, Lori Azevedo has vast knowledge on what it takes to grow a

Suman Lawrence: How to Work with Distributors

Dec 10th, 2019 51m 2s

In an omnichannel world, almost every brand will work with a major wholesale distributor at some point. On this episode, we’re sharing a recording from a live event we held earlier this year featuring Suman Lawrence of United Natural Foods, the