Notes

One of my favorite conversations at Expo West this year was with Justin Gold, the founder of Justin's.

Justin has been on my radar since Newtopia Now last year, where I got talking with the folks at Rudi's Bakery and tried their Sandos for the first time. A portable PB&J made with Justin's peanut butter. Only way I can describe it is the most delicious nostalgic bite in a long time.

And then I learned that Justin was serving as their Chief Innovation Officer after leaving his own brand.

Turns out that's not all he's been up to.

If you don't know the Justin's story: in 2004, a guy starts making nut butter in his Boulder apartment. Sells jars at the farmers market. Invents the squeeze pack on a mountain bike ride. Builds a full lineup, including those chocolate PB cups everyone loves, and sells the whole thing to Hormel Foods in 2016 for ~$286 million.

But not every story's end is... the end.

In December, Justin's became a standalone company again. Forward Consumer Partners took a majority stake, Hormel stayed in as a minority owner, and Justin came back to help lead the next chapter. And when the deal closed, much of the original leadership team came back too.

People who didn't have to come back. That tells you everything about the kind of leader Justin is and the vision he's put forward for this brand.

Talking to him at Expo West, you could feel it. He's fired up and full of gratitude. I left our conversation feeding off the good energy.

The booth had the same vibes. Nina Ungers, Director of Marketing, wasn't just handing out samples. She was interacting with every single person who tried something and asking for real feedback. Clearly a team that knows what they're building and is serious about doing it right.

Looking forward to watching this next chapter unfold. It's not a story you see every day in CPG.

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Didn't think to snap a photo with Justin. So here's a shot from a YT video I found from 2014 with his alma mater, Dickinson College.

I watched Ratatouille with my sick toddler this weekend and much to my surprise, couldn't stop thinking about CPG 👨‍🍳 🐭 🥘

He's been sick all week and a movie is the only way to get this kid to slow down. This was only his second, so I picked carefully.

If you're like me and haven't watched it in a while, here's a quick refresher:

Remy is a rat with a gift for taste and smell, and his idol is the late Chef Gusteau, whose famous Parisian restaurant once held 5 stars. After a brutal review from critic Anton Ego cost the restaurant a star, Gusteau died of a broken heart, dropping it to 3. His sous chef Skinner inherited the place and immediately set about exploiting Gusteau's name and likeness to sell a line of frozen burritos, pizzas, and other cheap packaged foods. Full on CPG. The movie treats it as the ultimate betrayal of craft.

Funny how things have changed...

Today, some of the most respected restaurants and chefs in the world aren't just making food for the dining room. They're building CPG brands. And doing it really well.

Rao's started as a tiny, impossible-to-get-into restaurant in East Harlem. Now it's a CPG powerhouse. The Campbell's Company acquired the parent company Sovos Brands for $2.7 billion. That's billion with a B. For pasta sauce.

Carbone went from being one of the hardest reservations in New York to selling over 2 million jars of sauce across 10,000+ grocery stores nationwide. You can grab a jar at Whole Foods Market or Walmart.

Momofuku built an entire grocery brand around chili crunch, seasoned salts, soy sauce, and noodles. David Chang took what he perfected in his restaurants and turned it into a pantry staple.

Christina Tosi took Milk Bar from a tiny East Village bakery to 10,000+ retail locations. Her cookies and ice cream now sit on shelves at Whole Foods, Target, and Kroger. What started as a cult dessert spot became a legit CPG brand.

The list keeps growing. And the line between restaurant and retail has never been blurrier.

What Skinner got wrong wasn't the idea of turning a restaurant into a brand. It was the intent behind it. He wanted to exploit a name.

Chefs and founders today are extending an experience. They spent years, sometimes decades, building something people love in person. And now they're finding ways to bring a piece of that into people's homes.

That's not selling out. That's building for longevity.

The best restaurant-to-CPG brands aren't cashing in on a logo. They're scaling taste. And to me, it's one of the most exciting things happening in our industry right now.

I can’t shop like a normal person anymore 😑

When I hand my son a Perfect Bar right out of the box at Costco (we don’t wait for the checkout), I don’t see a snack.

I see a family of 13 kids who turned their dad’s homemade recipe into a business to keep their family afloat after he got sick. They convinced their mom to sell the family bed and breakfast to buy a packaging machine. The oldest slept in his car for a month demoing bars at a single Whole Foods Market.

By 2019, they were doing $70 million in revenue, going on to sell a majority stake to Mondelēz International. Today they’re in over 50,000 stores.

Because behind every product on a shelf, there’s people navigating a lot more than most consumers will ever see:

Private label is eating into their categories and they’re trying to figure out how to make the brand matter more, not less. How do you justify the premium when the store brand is “good enough”?

Retail is still the engine. They’re expanding doors, pitching new chains, trying to win over buyers who have 200 other brands asking for the same shelf space. One meeting with a buyer at Target or Costco Wholesale can change the trajectory of a year.

Supply chain is a headache. Ingredient sourcing, co-packer capacity, lead times that make it nearly impossible to move fast. And every time costs go up, the margin conversation starts all over again.

They’re investing more in retail media and marketing but struggling to measure what’s actually working. The dollars are going up but clarity isn’t getting any sharper.

Amazon is important but complicated. It’s a discovery engine, a sales channel, and a brand risk all at once. Pricing parity, unauthorized sellers, content that needs to be aligned with other channels but not 1 to 1.

Speaking of DTC, most brands know it’s not going to be their biggest channel. But it’s the only place they fully own the brand experience, the data, and the customer relationship. So they’re trying to figure out what role it plays without under or overinvesting.

New SKUs, limited editions, collabs. There’s constant pressure to innovate just to hold shelf space and stay relevant. Brands that can move faster on product development have an edge. DTC can be a great place for that.

Everyone wants to build community but few have figured out what that looks like beyond a loyalty program and a referral code.

Regulatory and compliance requirements keep getting more complex. Claims on packaging, FDA guidelines, state-by-state rules. It’s important but slows everything down.

And underneath all of it? This tension: grow fast enough to keep investors or leadership happy, but don’t dilute the brand in the process :)

I always appreciate talking to the brands who see all of this as a long game. Much like the Keith family did. No single channel, no single campaign, no single retailer makes or breaks them. They just keep showing up, solving the next problem, and compounding.

That’s how brands, and good things, are built.

For years, the Barrel leadership team has read books together. When I moved into the CEO role, I continued the practice.

As I was selecting books in Q4, I asked myself: why isolate this to leadership?

So I created a couple of book clubs across the agency. Yesterday was our first session reflecting on "Getting Naked" by Patrick Lencioni, the book I chose for our client services and growth team.

I first read this years ago. Revisiting it, I realized how much it shaped how I show up today. On client calls, in tough conversations, in how I think about trust. That's what I love about books. You take what you need in the moment and sometimes don't realize the impact until much later. The more you read, the more ideas compound. And reading as a team compounds even further. It creates a shared language people can reference and build on together.

I chose this book because so much of agency work comes down to trust. Lencioni frames trust-building in a way that challenges the instincts most service professionals develop over time. The instinct to protect, to posture, to always have the answer.

Insights from our conversation:

Ask the questions no one wants to ask. When a client says they need X, the real issue is often something else. Our best outcomes come from slowing down and asking "why" before jumping to solutions.

Don't pretend to know more than you do. When you nod along to something you don't understand, it catches up with you. The vulnerability of saying "can you explain that?" builds more trust than faking expertise ever will.

Enter the danger zone. When there's tension on a call, the instinct is to get quiet. The better move is to name it. Calling it out moves things forward faster than letting it fester.

Consult, don't sell. Clients don't choose partners because of a polished pitch. They choose partners who seem more interested in understanding their problems than closing the deal.

Tell the kind truth. Being naked doesn't mean being reckless. It means having the courage to say what needs to be said with genuine care. Push back when a direction isn't right. Own mistakes openly. Always from a place of wanting the best outcome, not proving you're right.

Bad clients are worse than no clients. One nightmare client can wipe out the margins and energy of nine great ones. Learning when to walk away is just as important as learning how to win.

It's never easy to carve 90 minutes out of a busy team's schedule. But there's real power in zooming out and thinking together about how we want to show up. The energy yesterday made it clear this was time well spent.

Looking forward to many more of these.

ABSOLUT TABASCO 🌶️

The unlikely duo we didn't see coming just dropped a spicy vodka together.

Vodka and hot sauce. An odd combo at first.

But CPG folks, there's something to learn here beyond two big brands making a splash. When you dig in, the partnership makes a lot of sense.

Both brands were founded in the 1860s-80s. Both built their stories around three simple ingredients. Their bottles even have a similar silhouette.

And... they've committed to a 3-year partnership. This isn't a limited drop designed to grab headlines and disappear. They're building something together.

Craig Max van Niekerk, Global VP of Marketing for The Absolut Company, said it pretty plainly: "Vodka is perceived as a one-dimensional category in a four-dimensional world."

That's the real play: using a collab to make the category interesting again. The structure is worth paying attention to, too.

Here's how it works:

Absolut licenses Tabasco's pepper mash and pays for the brand association. No need to spend resources trying to develop a new flavor from scratch. There's built-in trust and audience ready to take a sip. They're already talking about RTD extensions like Bloody Mary and Spicy Lemonade. The growth path was part of the deal from day one.

Christian Brown, 6th generation family member at the McIlhenny Company (makers of Tabasco), called it a natural fit, two brands with long histories that understand authenticity.

For founders thinking about collabs: the headline-grabbing move and the long-game move don't have to be separate things.

Find a partner that actually makes sense. Commit to it. Build from there.

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Image Source: The Absolut Group

Everyone celebrates the “We’re in Costco!” announcement.

And they should!

But there’s a whole other reality behind-the-scenes that rarely makes it to these posts.

Some things many don’t realize about getting into Costco Wholesale:

The curation is intense. Costco carries around 3,700 SKUs per warehouse. The average grocery store? Over 30,000. Their buyers aren’t just selective. They’re looking for reasons to say no.

You might not even sell your “real” product there. Many brands create entirely new SKUs just for Costco. Oats Overnight sells bags instead of their standard cups. MUSH launched protein bar minis. Magic Spoon made a double-sized 14oz box (their standard is 7oz) that I always keep in stock. That's it. made an 18-count Crunchables variety bag just for club stores. Chances are, what you see on the shelf might only exist there.

The packaging specs are also no joke. There’s reportedly a 40-page document covering everything from pallet dimensions to how products need to survive 500+ mile transit. Miss the specs and you risk chargebacks or getting pulled.

Speed to scale is maybe the most surprising. Brands often talk about getting accepted in stores and having just weeks to prepare. Bill Shufelt from Athletic Brewing has talked about doubling their production capacity and outgrowing it again in three months. They deliberately held off on major retailers until they knew they could fulfill the orders. Going from nobody returning your calls to not being able to keep up with demand is a good problem, but not if you’re not ready.

The samples we all love are proof of concept. Trü Frü passed out over a million free samples before their Costco expansion. This isn’t just marketing; it’s showing buyers that demand already exists.

Getting into Costco isn’t just a distribution win. It’s an operations test.

The brands that last there aren’t just great products. They’re supply chain machines.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

What’s your Costco story?

The Nathan's Famous, Inc. acquisition is an amazing case study in the power of brand.

While 110 year old Nathan’s was already iconic, Smithfield Foods has been manufacturing and distributing Nathan’s hot dogs since 2014. They ran the operations. They handled the distribution. They marketed the brand.

But they didn’t own it.

Their license was set to expire in 2032, which meant eventually renegotiating from a position of dependency or… watching a competitor take over a brand they’d spent a decade building.

So they bought it.

$450M to own it forever instead of effectively “renting” it until 2032.

For CPG founders, this is a good reminder: your brand is an asset. Manufacturing can be contracted. Distribution can be partnered. But the brand - the name consumers trust, the shelf space you’ve earned, the identity you’ve built - that’s what gets acquired.

That doesn’t mean the quality of your product isn’t important, but your brand can be what makes a customer say yes to you, and no to competitors.

Nathan’s posted ~$150M revenue and $24M profit last year. They’re not being bought for their hot dog recipe. They’re being bought because “Nathan’s Famous” means something to consumers that Smithfield can’t replicate.

And… special kudos to ChatGPT for bringing my hot dog vision to life.

A protein bar company valued at $725M in under a year. Here's the David protein breakdown.

A couple months after launch, Dana surprised me with a box of David Protein. She'd heard me going on about the hype and how impressed I was with the label. 28g protein, 150 calories, zero sugar. I didn't even know that was possible in a bar format.

Well, of course, I wasn't the only one paying attention.

Today: 3,000+ retail locations. $85M raised. $725M valuation.

What made them explosive:

The team and backers. Founded by Peter Rahal, who previously built and sold RXBAR for $600M. Peter Attia MD serves as Chief Science Officer. Andrew Huberman and Arnold Schwarzenegger are investors and public supporters. That lineup gave them instant credibility in the health and fitness world.

The timing. GLP-1 drugs have millions of Americans eating less but needing more protein to prevent muscle loss. David entered the market right as that demand curve started climbing.

The go-to-market. Waitlist pre-launch, 20,000 free samples, aggressive TikTok and influencer seeding, and eye popping minimal metallic packaging. They built demand before chasing shelf space, then used that leverage to scale into retail fast.

The controversy: They acquired Epogee, the sole producer of EPG (the modified fat that makes their macro profile possible), and allegedly stopped supplying other brands. A lawsuit followed. David's position: competitors should have locked in long-term contracts. The case is ongoing.

The response to critics: When people called the bars ultra-processed, David launched... frozen cod. Boiled cod pouches at $55 for four fillets. Their billboards read: "Slightly more protein per calorie than our bars." Tongue-in-cheek, but it reinforced their core message while acknowledging the criticism.

Whether you see David as the future of functional food or a cautionary tale, they've built something the industry is watching closely.

And it seems like none of us can stop talking about it.

A few months ago, I walked into Costco Wholesale and was greeted by a huge display of Athletic. This weekend, I passed it on an endcap, this time next to hiyo, a "social tonic" I hadn't seen there before.

First thing that came to mind, "Whoaa, NA has seriously arrived. It's with the masses."

A few years ago, these products lived in specialty stores or required an online order. Now they're sharing shelf space, a few aisles away from the rotisserie chickens.

I don't drink, but I've gotten into NA beer over the past several years. Options like Athletic Brewing Co. have become easy go-tos. They fit into those moments where a beer might fit without feeling like a compromise.

When Athletic launched in 2018, there were only about a dozen NA beer brands in the US. Today, there are hundreds. Athletic has grown into one of the largest craft breweries in America by volume. They make zero alcohol.

Hiyo launched in 2021 and has raised ~$20 million. Constellation Brands, the company who owns the exclusive US rights for Corona and Modelo, took a stake. So did Live Nation Entertainment.

Both brands now have deals to be served at Live Nation venues. My wife Dana and I shared an Athletic tallboy at a concert late last year. Loved that it was even an option.

For anyone building in this category, the window for being early has probably closed. The window for being good is wide open.

When Dunkin starts making protein drinks, it’s pretty clear we’re way beyond protein “being a thing.”

Not that long ago, protein felt like it belonged to a very specific crowd. Shaker bottles, chalky powders, fitness people on a mission.

Now it’s everywhere. Coffee counters, convenience fridges, right next to the register. It went from niche to mainstream fast.

I don’t hate the love for protein at all. If anything, it’s a good thing. I remember when I first started tracking macros and realizing how little I was consuming.

But fwiw sugary drinks are not a great path to hitting daily protein.

Most of it still comes from the basics. Including a clean protein (chicken, tuna, etc) at meals. And subbing in healthy options for our favorite sweets and snacks.

Luckily, there's plenty of those these days. Some good ones: Dave's Killer Bread, Magic Spoon, Khloud, WILDE, Yasso, Inc. or trusty old Greek yogurt and fruit.

Protein feels like a trend right now, but it’s always been important. And sugar drinks or not, it’s cool to see more brands leaning into it, raising awareness and making it more accessible.

I started collecting Snapple bottle caps as a teenager.

I didn’t have a plan. I just thought the little facts were interesting enough to hang on to. It was always fun to see what the next one would be.

Over time, that turned into quite a collection, stored safely inside a shoebox. Eventually, I had an idea to turn them into a project. I built a table out of the caps. I loved the idea of being able to sit there and read all the facts.

That table ended up in my portfolio when I applied to Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University. I’ll never forget trekking it into my interview. It made quite a scene and became something the Dean at the time, Carmina Cianciulli, would mention for years to come :)

Looking back, it’s funny how my perspective has changed.

As a customer, I just thought it was cool. As someone who now works with CPG brands every day, it signals something different.

There was a lot packed into that small moment. The drink was the drink. The extra layer lived in the cap. A tiny delight that extended the experience.

I see the same idea show up in other brands.

Some nostalgic...

Bazooka Candy Brands bubble gum with the comics inside. You opened the wrapper and couldn't wait to see what was inside.

Cereal boxes with games, puzzles, or if you were lucky, a toy inside. I'll never forget my color changing spoon from Kellogg Company.

And more modern examples...

BEAR Fruit Snacks rolls with unique cards tucked into each pack. Kids (or me) start eating and want to see what they got.

La Fermière US and Kalypso yogurt served in a terracotta container that can be reused as a planter after eating.

All of these are small moments that make the experience bigger than what’s inside.

For brands that depend on repeat purchase, this feels like a real opportunity. I’m surprised we don’t see it more often across categories.

And I'd argue it's not just for kids! Adults are just big kids anyway.

Curious what comes to mind for others. Any product packaging experiences that have stayed with you?

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Shout out to Renee Rogan Reilly for being an awesome neighbor and teaching me about vectors and Adobe Illustrator. I was so pumped to design those tags. And Dr Pepper Snapple Group for the inspo.

Spotted Vacation Inc. at Costco this weekend and I was like… whaaaat?

Sunday morning Costco runs have become a new ritual for my fam. They open an hour early for executive members, a perk we only discovered recently (pretty sure it’s new?). Somewhere along our walk through the aisles, my wife Dana came over holding a twin pack of Vacation sunscreen.

“This looks fun.”

Pretty sure my eyes went 👀 and my jaw fell to the floor. Vacation has been a brand I’ve only experienced through a screen and I haven't kept tabs on. Seeing it here felt like a plot twist.

The story starts in 2021 with Poolsuite (formally Poolside FM), an internet radio project built on an unapologetic 80s vibe. The founders took that world and turned it into a sunscreen brand, from the retro visuals and playful tones to scents that feel like summer and their whipped-cream style SPF mousse (that I very much need to try). Every detail connected back to the universe they created.

Before launch, they ran a clever campaign where fans could sign up as “honorary employees” and get a digital business card to share online. Thousands joined in, building a list and community before a single product shipped.

Once in market, they made email a growth engine, sending newsletters three times a week in the summer and twice a week in the off season to stay top of mind for those spur-of-the-moment sunscreen purchases.

Creators and user-generated content amplified the buzz. We even wrote about them in DTC Patterns (link in comments).

They shipped about 1,500 units every week to influencers and event hosts, keeping the brand in feeds. TikTok became a major sales driver for Classic Whip SPF. At one point, 80% of sales came through TikTok Shop.

By 2023, they were in more than 1,200 Ulta Beauty stores. Target, Nordstrom, CVS Pharmacy, and Bloomingdale's’s followed. Now, Costco Wholesale.

All said, kudos to founders Marty Bell, Lach Hall, and Dakota Green. Love seeing a brand born on the internet now stacked high in everyday places IRL. A testament to world building and quality products people can’t help but talk about.

And yes, after years of being aware of this brand, it took finding them in Costco to purchase.

In 2020, I decided to grow my hair out.

A small act of rebellion or maybe just nostalgia. I was embracing the teenager in me who once "rocked" a look somewhere between a 70s musician and a lion’s mane. The poof was real. This time, I was determined to figure out how to get it to lay flatter.

I tried everything and spent more time than I’d like to admit researching. Pinterest, YouTube, random men’s fashion blogs. Eventually, I discovered the powerful combo of argan oil and thick, wavy hair like mine :)

Naturally, I went to Amazon and grabbed whatever seemed legit. Organic. Cold-pressed. Third-party tested. I found a product, stuck with it, and reordered it a few times.

Then it disappeared.

So I picked another one with similar claims and kept going. Although my hair is much shorter these days, the oil still helps keep things tame.

When that one disappeared too, I found Cliganic. Same checklist, same oil. It did the job, so I kept buying. But if you asked me what brand I was using, I wouldn’t have had a clue. It was just another Amazon product that happened to be in my routine.

Until the other day when my usual shipment arrived. The box was smaller than usual, so I assumed it was the wrong SKU as I pried it open. But when I pulled out the bottle, I found a completely new size and beautifully updated packaging.

I had to blink a few times. Is this right?

The bottle looked great. The design felt intentional. Suddenly, this simple oil I’d never thought much about (but that had actually made a big difference for my hair) felt high end. A nice surprise.

I ended up on their website, then their Instagram, and realized this wasn’t just a product. It was a brand with a full line of wellness products, a mission around clean ingredients and accessibility, and certifications to back it up. USDA Organic. Leaping Bunny. Based in California. Sold in a variety of retailers, like Target.

All that from a packaging update.

Love this little story as a reminder that every touchpoint is an opportunity to tell a story and deepen a relationship. Especially when your product is something someone might buy on autopilot from a place like Amazon.

I’ve switched argan oil brands before without thinking twice. But this time feels different.

Kudos to Cliganic. They didn’t stop at the packaging. Their website and social delivered too as I kept exploring.

They turned me from someone who quietly buys their product into someone who notices if it’s not there, and write posts on LinkedIn about it.

I guess you might call me a fan.

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Sorry if this is starting to sound like a hair ad, but felt like I had to share a photo of how long my hair got by the end of 2020. And of course, Cliganic’s new packaging. That’s the bottle on the right.

Had a good conversation this week with a partner at a PE firm that works exclusively with CPG brands.

We were talking about DTC. Some of the brands they work with have large DTC channels, but investing in CRO is not the focus. It’s more about how they show up online and create a brand experience that builds confidence, adds value, and helps people make a decision, whether that happens online, on Amazon, or at their local Target.

It’s an idea I come back to often. An effective DTC website plays a bigger role than attribution can show. It sets the tone for the brand, shapes how people perceive it, and influences decisions across every channel.

"Digital" isn’t a separate thing anymore. It’s integral to how people live. They’re reading reviews, watching TikToks, and looking up recipes, sometimes all while standing in the aisle.

The most effective CPGs don’t treat channels in isolation. They focus on showing up in ways that feel connected, useful, and consistent across the board.

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Most brands in the refrigerated baked goods aisle don’t want you reading the label.

Sweet Loren’s is the opposite.
They want you to read and understand.

Founder Loren (Brill) Castle built Sweet Loren’s around one simple idea: clean, safe, and delicious dough that’s free of the stuff many people want to avoid (gluten, dairy, artificial flavors, etc). Ingredients have always been at the heart of that mission.

But that’s not always easy to explain.

We recently partnered with the Sweet Loren’s team to launch a new Ingredients page that brings clarity, transparency, and a bit of joy to how they talk about what’s inside their products. It not only showcases their family of trusted ingredients—it also makes it easy to see which SKUs contain what, making the shopping experience that much more helpful.

Like many retail-first CPG brands, Sweet Loren’s website is more than a place to shop. It’s a place to educate. The truth is, we never really know when—or why—someone lands on the site.

They could be standing in the aisle, scanning for a better option.
At home, researching a way to enjoy a treat without the guilt.
Or navigating a health issue that’s led them to find an alternative.

Pages like this help answer those questions. And sometimes, they’re the reason someone gives the brand a try.

Another *sweet* launch with Sweet Loren’s—props to the BARREL team. And to Sweet Loren's for being upfront with customers and proudly sharing what goes into their products.