217 - Erica Rankin on her packaging pivot at Bro Dough

People of Packaging · 10 Oct 2023 · 29m

What this episode covers

Erica Rankin, founder of Bro Dough, explains her pivot from selling functional cookie dough in 6-ounce tamper-evident tubs to single-serve flow-wrapped bites to solve scaling and consumer experience issues. She details the operational nightmare of manual labor for tubs and the high minimum order quantities (MOQs) for printed packaging, which forced her to buy 20,000 manually labeled units at a premium. Rankin advises startup founders to prioritize buying for need rather than price per unit to avoid inventory risk and cash flow traps, a lesson she learned while navigating supplier pitches and SKU changes.

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Thoroughly Considered · 51m

    79: An Ever-Widening Funnel

    Myke Hurley, co-founder of Studio Neat, joins hosts Tom Gerhardt and Dan Provost to discuss the financial and operational challenges of running a small physical product business. The conversation covers inventory forecasting, the strategic use of short-term loans to leverage bulk pricing, and the 'meta-design' lessons learned from packaging failures like cork and foam. The episode concludes with a technical deep-dive into the iPhone 13 Pro's back-swipe gesture recognition issues and a brief discussion of the movie Tenet.

  • How I Built This · 47m

    Advice Line with Serial Entrepreneur Marc Lore

    Serial entrepreneur Marc Lore, founder of Diapers.com, Jet.com, and Wonder, joins Guy Raz to answer questions from early-stage founders. Lore discusses Wonder's strategic pivot from mobile food trucks to brick-and-mortar commissary kitchens to improve unit economics and scalability. He advises Ben Bailey of Chomp Chocolate to double down on its customizable 'Build-A-Bar' model to differentiate from commodity competitors, and suggests Baby a GoGo use returnable inventory to overcome retailer hesitation. For Ryan Thompson of 10th Mountain Whiskey, Lore recommends focusing on deepening regional market share in Colorado rather than pursuing costly national expansion.

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 44m

    #260 - Packaging Changes as you Grow with Evie's Snacks and Belmark

    Eve Ackerley, founder of Evie's Snacks, and Cody Ponsler from Belmark discuss how packaging must evolve as a CPG brand scales from farmers markets to national retail. Ackerley details her journey from hand-applied stickers on craft bags to custom printed stand-up pouches, highlighting a critical lesson where buyer feedback revealed her initial design looked like 'laundry detergent.' Ponsler explains why 50% of brands change their packaging art between their first and second production runs and advises founders to prioritize shelf-life and brand storytelling over premature premium finishes.

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 56m

    #97 Co-Packing 101: Tapping into a Motherlode of Co-Packing Wisdom

    Kit Maxfield, CMO and Partner, and Adam Bender, New Product Development Manager at Motherlode Co-Packing, explain the complexities of working with contract manufacturers. They discuss the co-packer business model, the critical importance of volume and brand readiness during outreach, and the technical challenges of scaling recipes from benchtop to production. The conversation covers best practices for onboarding, including the necessity of weight-based formulas, in-person R&D sessions, and understanding financial terms like MOQs and tiered pricing.

  • How I Built This · 58m

    Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business

    Beryl Stafford, founder of Bobo's, explains how she turned a divorce-induced need for income into a $100M snack bar brand, starting with scrappy home baking and selling to local Boulder coffee shops. She details the operational challenges of scaling, including sharing a kitchen with Justin's Nut Butters, securing a $25,000 packaging machine, and navigating the strict requirements of Whole Foods and UNFI distributors. Stafford also discusses the strategic pivot to hiring CEO TJ McIntyre, raising $17M in outside capital, and managing the high-volume, low-margin pressures of Costco distribution.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by People of Packaging. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.