The Online Community for Food and Beverage Startups

   State of the CPG       Industry Report Preview   

Happy Monday , 

Happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate. My family and I do and we spent the weekend having a lot of fun family time together. In the evenings, I spent a few hours analyzing our 2023 State of the Industry report and getting into some juicy details!

I’ll be releasing the full report this week, but wanted to share some highlights I’m already seeing. We had 147 founders participate this year, which was more than double last year!Companies launched during the pandemic are having mixed results. Out of 21 brands launched in 2020, 19% of them have grown sales to over $1 million while 57% are still under $250k in revenue.

Building a CPG brand isn’t cheap. Over 20% of survey respondents have invested over $200,000 of their personal funds into the business, with an average being around $20,000.

But you don’t always need outside investment to do so. For companies doing over $1 million in sales, 43% are bootstrapped.More to come soon, so keep an eye out for your inbox!

WEEKLY UPDATES

   TARGET ACCELERATOR OPEN   

Target Forward Founders is the accelerator program for early-stage CPG companies looking to better understand retail. It’s designed to help historically under-resourced founders be the next wave of wealth-building companies. Applications are now open until February 3rd Apply to Accelerator

   A DIFFERENT APPROACH       TO BUSINESS FINANCE    

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the first 2 days of Keith's Making the Numbers Work For You Retreat. I have to say... I was really taken by how personal and introspective the sessions were.We tend to think about finance as numbers and spreadsheets, but I realized our relationship to money goes much much deeper, often to our childhoods. Money is an extremely emotional topic, tied to our very sense of survival and success.Watch my Day 1 reaction hereFinancing for 2023 is one of the biggest challenges for CPG brands according to early data from our State of the CPG Industry Survey. That's why I partnered with Keith Kohler to help every founder in our Foodbevy community create a 2-3 year financing strategy including debt, equity, and alternative investments. A number of Foodbevy community brands have taken advantage of this call, so don't delay.REQUEST AN INTRODUCTION TO KEITH

   KEEP YOUR DTC RUNNING   

This one is for the DTC-heavy brands. Our new partner Trackstar monitors your entire e-commerce stack for hard-to-catch problems. Increase your profitability and sleep better at night, guaranteed. Check them out to see how you can save on leaky costs.Request an introduction

   REMASTER YOUR DIGITAL       MARKETING STRATEGY   

Are you still struggling with your digital marketing strategy for 2023? It feels like we're all reeling in the aftermath of the iOS changes and there's no clear way forward. If you need help, talk with Andy. He's a master of Google Ads, Data Tracking and Analytics, and digital marketing strategies.Book a free call with Andy with PPC Pitbulls to get:

• Clarity on how you can use paid ads and email marketing to build more authentic customer relationships and sales online

• Actionable insights and strategies that you can apply to your digital marketing TODAY

• Your one best next step to help you achieve your unique goals ecommerce goals

   CFO SUPPORT       FOR EMERGING BRANDS  

Looking to get a hold of your finances but can't afford a CFO?myPocketCFO is building a digital CFO for emerging CPG brands. Alice built the service to support accounting, analytics, reports, forecasts, integrated financing, and capital options.Trusted by:- B.T.R Bar- Nemi- Twrl M!lk Tea- KindrootTry out their financial services for just $99 for 3 months (a Foodbevy Special), then just $199/month after. Click here for an introduction.

STARTUP TO SCALE PODCAST

88. Foodservice 201: Building a Foodservice Business

Foodservice is an amazing channel for food and beverage products, but can be incredibly challenging to break into.I sit down with my friend Matt Cotton, founder of Rooted Food Sales, who helps CPG brands sell into and succeed in Foodservice channels.We discuss:

• How to get into your first corporate office

• The difference between a distributor and an operator

• What are the job titles to reach out to

• How to expand once you have a foothold

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

DISCOUNTS

Stripe is now providing $70,000 in fee-free processing for new and EXISTING customers. Save over $2000

NielsenIQ Byzzer platform provides data for emerging CPG brands. You can access 3 free reports using this link.

Mindful Goods is an awesome Amazon expert that can quickly get you started or optimize your pages for strong ROI. Get 10% of their services  use code FOODBEVY.

Maverick allows you to create individually personalized videos (with a customer's name) welcoming them to your community.