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James Oliver, founder and CEO of Atlas Bar, joins us in the next episode of The Physical Product Movement Podcast. A certified sports nutritionist with a passion about healthy food, James developed a unique product that provides functional nutrition that supports both physical and mental health. In the first month of business, Atlas Bar sold around 1500 bars. Today, it has sold over 1 million, and the company raised nearly $500k from a seed round in February 2020. James tells us how he launched the brand and the secret behind Atlas bar.

In this episode, we're joined by Mike Lackman, CEO of Trade Coffee, a coffee company that unites over fifty of the best roasters in the country with 400+ coffees that are rich in variety and taste. They offer this coffee to consumers nationwide on a subscription basis. We can compare Trade Coffee to Netflix, but for coffee. It's an innovative approach to retail that other businesses can also apply. Mike has some valuable advice about designing consumer experiences by gathering data in a survey to then curate recommendations. Moreover, we talk about the importance of the story behind a product. Also, we discuss how to highlight your suppliers, the source of your product, and search for and take forward the uniqueness of the people, product, geography, and process involved in bringing a product to market.

In this episode, Ken Ojuka, the host of The Physical Product Movement Podcast and Co-founder at Fiddle, joins Alex Bayer, the founder and CEO at Genius Juice and the host of 15 Minutes of Genius Podcast. Ken shares his background and reveals his motivation behind starting Fiddle and The Physical Product Movement Podcast.

Amy Zitelman, CEO and Co-founder of Soom Foods, joins us in the next episode of The Physical Product Movement Podcast. Soom Foods is a sister-owned Tahini products company whose products are used by award-winning restaurants and chefs around the world. Amy has been featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 and is also the author of "The Tahini Table." Amy tells the founding story of Soom Foods, how she and her sisters identified Tahini as an ingredient used heavily in other parts of the world but underrepresented in the United States market. She talks about the challenges and opportunities of selling a less-known category product. She also discusses the early days of loading up her bags with jars of Tahini and cold-calling restaurants. And finally, Amy outlines some of the surprising benefits of targeting wholesale channels first before eventually going direct to consumers. Amy is a great entrepreneur with a lot to share.

Today's episode features Myles Powell, the Founder, and CEO of 8 Myles, a popular and fast-growing line of gourmet mac and cheese. Myles tells us about his pivot from selling barbecue sauces at farmer's markets to selling the mac and cheese he makes now to showcase his sauces. He talks about the struggle he had with deciding when to quit his job and the mental anguish it took to make that decision, only to be forced to make it again a couple of years later. He also shared with us how he took advantage of the open shelf space caused by the pandemic, its impact on the supply chain, and how he used that to get his product into popular retailers like Target and Whole Foods.

In this episode, we speak with Allison Ball, Founder and CEO of Food Biz Wiz, a company that helps packaged food, beverage, and grocery brands get on to supermarket shelves, manage their wholesale strategy, and increase their sales. Allison talks about her experience as a buyer for a fast-growing grocery chain and how that taught her lessons about why brands succeed or fail in retail. She also shares some great tips on how to get in front of buyers, and the mistakes brands make when engaging with a buyer. Today’s interview is all about getting your food or beverage brand into retail stores.

Betsy Hamm, the Chief Executive Officer at Duck Donuts, joins us in today's episode, where she talks about how she started in PR and worked her way from marketing to operations. Betsy also offers insights into the growth strategy behind franchising a business, what it takes to get a new location off the ground, and tips on succeeding as a franchise. Duck Donuts just hit the 100 store milestone and in 2022 is looking to open up 40 new locations. They are growing fast and picking up momentum. This interview illustrates how to develop a brand, how to find and maintain healthy partnerships, and how to build processes into your business so that customers have a consistently great experience.

In this episode, we're joined by Mitch Barnard, CEO, and Founder of Wildpack Beverage. Mitch talks about the massive opportunity he and his firms see in the beverage market, which is currently growing at 23% per year, blowing many other categories out of the water. He discusses why distributing co-packing close to target cities is key to a brand’s success. He also talks about common mistakes food and beverage entrepreneurs make when scaling their brand and how you can avoid them.

In this episode, we're joined by Tyler Phillips of Hummii, a "healthy + yummii plant-powered universe". Hear how Tyler has always loved snacks from a young age, how he got the idea for Hummii after going on a run in Puerto Rico, how he thinks about branding, the future of the CPG space with N

In this episode, we're joined by Margaret Wishingrad, Co-founder of Three Wishes Cereal. Margaret talks about the opportunity she saw in the crowded and competitive breakfast cereal market while feeding her young and very picky son. Using her experience in marketing and advertising, Margaret started her journey by doing product and consumer research. Eventually, Three Wishes was launched and was able to find success in retail, getting into Sprouts, Whole Foods, and Wegmans. She goes into detail about why she felt her brand resonated with these buyers. Margaret is an open book with great stories and insights for food and beverage entrepreneurs.

In this episode, we're joined by Mia Medina, founder and CEO of Gather Brands, a full-service marketing management agency that focuses on women-owned and women-run companies in the CPG industry. Mia has tons of experience from working in sales for some of the biggest nationally distributed brands to launching her own CPG brands. She talks about common mistakes that she's seen brands make when they try to break into retail and the importance of understanding your customers and why they choose your product.

In this episode, we're joined by John Merris, CEO of Solo Brands, maker of the incredibly popular and fast-growing Solo Stove. We covered a lot in this interview, including John's belief and passion for customer experience. This has motivated Solo Brands to make intuitive moves, like stand up their in-house global awareness and fulfillment platform has also inspired them to continually focus on D2C, which drives most of their revenue. John talks about how this closeness to the customer has helped them iterate their initial product, and how it inspired the creation of other products. John discusses their acquisition of other outdoor brands and the economies gained from leveraging their warehouse and fulfillment capabilities.