The Startup CPG Podcast

In this episode of R&D Radio, hosted by food scientist Adam Yee, Adam sits down with Esther Levy, founder of Evolve Food Consultants, to unpack the real decision-making process behind third-party certifications — organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, kosher, and beyond. Esther holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition and an MBA, brings over 15 years of experience in manufacturing, regulatory compliance, food labeling, and food safety, and spent a decade specializing in organic juice before founding her own consulting firm.

Esther and Adam get into why "getting certified organic" sounds simple but rarely is — breaking down the three forces that make or break a certification decision: ingredient supply, cost, and manufacturer availability. From an organic potato chip project that turned out to be nearly impossible to source, to the difference between making a substantiated claim versus paying for the trademarked logo, this episode maps out exactly what founders are getting into before they commit.

Listen in as they cover:
Why organic is often "doable" in theory but category-dependent in practice — and what determines whether it's a launch-day decision or a year-two goal
The real cost gap between organic and conventional ingredients, from pricing to minimum order quantities
Why an "organic potato chip" is one of the hardest products in food to actually source and produce
The difference between making a substantiated claim (like "non-GMO") and paying for a certification logo like the Non-GMO Project butterfly
How Esther uses hard data and real supplier quotes — not theoretical debate — to help founders make fast, informed certification decisions
Why even simple three-ingredient products are often the most complex to certify and manufacture at scale
The evolving nature of formulation and branding, and why almost no retail brand launched exactly as it exists today
Current food trends Esther is watching: upcycled and novel fibers, prebiotic claim substantiation, and rising demand for ingredient transparency
Why unsubstantiated claims — even from small brands — can trigger costly legal exposure, using the Poppi prebiotic lawsuit as a cautionary example
Why staying organized with documentation isn't just a nice-to-have — it's what protects a brand when a claim gets challenged

Episode Links:
Esther Levy – Founder, Evolve Food Consultants: LinkedIn
Website: evolvefoodconsultants.com
Email: esther@evolvefoodconsultants.com

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.

Show Links:
Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to "Transcript" at the top)
Join the Startup CPG Slack community (35K+ members and growing!)
Follow @startupcpg
Visit host Adam's LinkedIn
Questions or comments about the episode? Email podcast@startupcpg.com
Episode music by Super Fantastics

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Caitlin Bricker sits down with Melissa Bermudez, founder of Unrefined Foods — frozen muffins made with 100% stone-milled whole grains and real fruits and vegetables. Melissa's path to founder started far from the kitchen: investment banking at JP Morgan, a hedge fund, business school, and stints at Walden Local Meat and a Big Ag financing firm, before landing at her kitchen counter with three kids under three (including twins) and a KitchenAid full of shredded zucchini.

What began as batch-freezing muffins to survive school lunch mornings turned into a mission-driven brand tackling one of the most overlooked corners of the food system: wheat. While gluten-free has dominated the conversation for years, Melissa is betting on fresh-milled, stone-ground wheat — and the direct farmer relationships needed to source organic and regenerative grain in a market where only 2% of U.S. wheat production is certified organic.

Caitlin and Melissa dig into why fresh-milled flour tastes nothing like store-bought whole wheat, the operational tradeoffs of a two-day shelf life muffin, why the freezer aisle might be the real frontier for changing how families eat, and the viral added-sugar demo that turned heads (and briefly a customer's stomach).

Listen in as they discuss:
Why fresh-milled wheat flour is a completely different product from anything on grocery shelves — and the coffee bean analogy that explains why
Melissa's path from Big Ag financing to founder, and what working directly with farmers taught her about the realities of the commodity system
Why only 2% of U.S. wheat is organic, and how Unrefined Foods is building direct farmer relationships to change that
The chaotic kitchen-counter origin story: three kids under three, an overflow of neighbor zucchini, and a muffin recipe that became a business
Why Unrefined Foods chose frozen over fresh — and how a 2-day shelf life shaped the entire product format
The case for the freezer aisle as an underrated tool for delivering high-quality, less-processed food to time-strapped parents
How Unrefined Foods is using bakery-adjacent placement (like near pie crusts and waffles) to become a "category expander" in the frozen section
The maple syrup demo video that showed shoppers exactly how much added sugar is hiding in a typical bakery muffin
Why Melissa deliberately keeps her muffins less sweet — and lets parents decide whether to doctor them up

Episode Links:

Melissa Bermudez – Founder, Unrefined Foods: LinkedIn
Website: unrefinedfoods.com
Instagram: instagram.com/unrefinedfoodsco

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.

Show Links:
Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to "Transcript" at the top)
Join the Startup CPG Slack community (35K+ members and growing!)
Follow @startupcpg
Visit host Caitlin's LinkedIn
Questions or comments about the episode? Email podcast@startupcpg.com
Episode music by Super Fantastics

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Daniel Scharff sits down with Laura Jakobsen, founder of Riot Energy, and Daniella Carelli, Special Counsel at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, for a deep dive into co-manufacturer due diligence — finding the right partner, evaluating them properly, and getting a solid contract in place before things go wrong.

Riot Energy has scaled from an early-stage beverage brand into nationwide distribution across Whole Foods, Costco, and convenience, all while pushing co-packers to produce a next-gen energy drink with no artificial sweeteners, no added sugar, and real ingredients. Laura brings the brand-side battle scars; Daniella brings nearly a decade of legal experience representing both brands and co-manufacturers, giving the conversation a rare view from both sides of the negotiating table.

Together they unpack what actually separates a good co-man relationship from a costly one — not just price per unit, but reporting transparency, yield loss tracking, IP protection, and the kind of contract flexibility that only shows up when you ask the right questions upfront.

Listen in as they discuss:
Why the "partnership approach" matters more than price when evaluating a co-manufacturer
The three reporting buckets every brand needs from day one: attainment, inventory, and shipping/receiving
A real contract clause example — flavor-swap flexibility when ingredients don't show up on time
How to protect trade secrets when a co-packer has full visibility into your recipe, including working with flavor houses to fragment the formula
What to actually look for during a facility walkthrough, from hairnets to batch cards to QA culture
Why founders should build their own baseline co-man agreement instead of just redlining the co-packer's template
The case for flexible payment terms over the lowest per-unit price — and how that impacts cash flow
Why yield loss tracking is one of the most overlooked (and costly) blind spots for early-stage brands
When a PO-to-PO relationship is fine — and when it's time to invest in a formal long-form contract
How to test whether a potential co-man will actually be a partner, not just a vendor, before you sign anything

Episode Links:
Laura Jakobsen – Founder, Riot Energy: LinkedIn
Riot Energy Website: https://riot.energy/ 
Daniella Carelli – Special Counsel, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP: LinkedIn
Kelley Drye & Warren LLP – Consumer Packaged Goods Practice: https://www.kelleydrye.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods
Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.

Show Links:
Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to "Transcript" at the top)
Join the Startup CPG Slack community (35K+ members and growing!)
Follow @startupcpg
Visit host Daniel's LinkedIn
Questions or comments about the episode? Email podcast@startupcpg.com
Episode music by Super Fantastics

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Hannah Dittman sits down with Sophia Cheng, Founder and CEO of Oddball, for a Founder Fundraising Journey conversation. Oddball is reimagining snacking for a new generation with jiggly, nostalgic fruit cups made from real fruit juices and purees — no artificial flavors or colors — inspired by the fruit-based snacks Sophia grew up with in Singapore. The brand is currently sold exclusively at Target and Target.com, with a nationwide expansion and new SKU launching just four months after its initial rollout.

Sophia's path to founder was anything but conventional: from management consulting to Bridgewater Associates under Ray Dalio, to a strategy director role at Estée Lauder, where she watched indie beauty brands reshape an entire industry before eventually building Oddball on the side — testing benchtop formulations at farmers markets and pitch competitions before ever raising a dollar.

Hannah and Sophia get candid about what it actually takes to fundraise as a first-time, minority woman founder in CPG: the mental shift from "convincing" to "aligning," why the hardest round is always the first, and how to build investor relationships that function more like real friendships than transactions.

Listen in as they discuss:
How a corporate career at Bridgewater and Estée Lauder shaped Sophia's point of view on brand-building and category trends
The origin of Oddball: catching up to her own junk-food habits and reimagining a nostalgic fruit snack without artificial ingredients
Validating the idea before raising a dollar — bringing a benchtop product to Sprouts and pitch competitions first
Why CPG fundraising is fundamentally different from tech, and why 2023's shifting investor landscape made a first raise even harder
The mindset shift from "convincing people to believe in you" to "finding the people who already do"
Understanding investor incentives as a structured game — and why cap table strategy depends on your own founder style
How many investors typically participate in a raise (a direct answer to a Startup CPG Slack community question)
Building investor relationships rooted in transparency and respect, including Sophia's rapport with lead VC Springdale Ventures
Embracing fear as a compass — and treating fundraising rejection as fuel rather than a source of bitterness
What's next for Oddball: nationwide Target expansion, a new flavor launch, and the goal of becoming "the Willy Wonka of fruit"

Episode Links:
Sophia Cheng – Founder & CEO, Oddball: LinkedIn
Oddball: Available at Target and Target.com
Contact: Sophia@oddballworld

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.

Show Links:

Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to "Transcript" at the top)
Join the Startup CPG Slack community (35K+ members and growing!)
Follow @startupcpg
Visit host Hannah's LinkedIn
Questions or comments about the episode? Email podcast@startupcpg.com
Episode music by Super Fantastics

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Caitlin Bricker sits down with Lindsey Fredrick, founder of Tart, a healthy lifestyle beverage built around tart cherry and house-made mineral water — just five organic ingredients, with zero natural flavors and no added sugar. Lindsey's path into CPG started in her college kitchen, where she was managing 35 different food allergies and searching for nutrient-dense foods she could actually eat and enjoy.

What began as a personal recipe (and a popular hangover cure among her college friends) turned into a canned RTD launched on January 1st of this year — and within two weeks, Tart had a booth in the Startup CPG section at Winter Fancy Food Show. Lindsey walked in with zero expectations and no formal CPG background, and walked out having handed out a thousand samples and met buyers across the board.

Caitlin and Lindsey dig into the packaging pivot that led to Tart's now-iconic red can, why organic certification became an unexpected retail differentiator, and Lindsey's refreshingly minimal approach to trade show booths and retail activations — proof that when the product is strong, it doesn't need much dressing up.

Listen in as they discuss:
Why Lindsey makes her own mineral water in-house instead of shipping it in — and what actually goes into it
How a lifelong list of 35 food allergies led her to formulate Tart in her college kitchen
The packaging near-miss: how Lindsey almost passed on the design that became her standout red can
Going from a January 1st launch to a booth at Winter Fancy Food Show two weeks later, with zero expectations
Why organic certification — despite months of delays — became one of Tart's biggest competitive advantages in retail
The "no natural flavors, no added sugar" formulation philosophy and why it's resonating with today's de-influenced consumer
Lindsey's low-budget, high-impact trade show booth strategy: letting the product speak for itself
Running retail activations solo — from fitness studios to beaches — while prepping simultaneous launches in California and Texas
Why tart cherry became the "trending flavor of 2026" the same month Tart hit the market

Episode Links:
Lindsey Fredrick – Founder, Tart: LinkedIn
Website: drinktart.com
Instagram/Social: instagram.com/drinktart; tiktok.com/@drinktart

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.

Show Links:

Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to "Transcript" at the top)
Join the Startup CPG Slack community (35K+ members and growing!)
Follow @startupcpg
Visit host Caitlin's LinkedIn
Questions or comments about the episode? Email podcast@startupcpg.com
Episode music by Super Fantastics