# #194 - AI for Ops with YANY Beauty and Phenomenal Foods Co

- Show: [The Startup CPG Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast)
- Published: 2025-04-29
- Length: 39m
- Episode: 148
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-04-29-194-ai-for-ops-with-yany-beauty-and-phenomenal-foods-co
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/6247f481

## Summary

Yaminah Childress, founder of YANY Beauty, and Veronica Blue, founder of Phenomenal Foods Co, discuss how small CPG teams leverage AI for operational efficiency. Veronica uses ChatGPT to manage recipe costing, unit economics, and investor projections, while Yaminah employs tools like Perplexity AI for market research and Contractor AI for legal agreements and forecasting. The episode highlights how these founders use AI to replace traditional back-office functions, enabling solopreneurs and small teams to scale without hiring extensive staff. They emphasize treating AI as a tool rather than a threat, using it to automate complex data tasks and generate accurate financial models.

## Outline

1. Introduction: AI Skepticism and the Shift to Operations
2. Veronica Blue: ChatGPT for Recipe Costing and Unit Economics
3. Veronica Blue: Financial Modeling and Investor Projections
4. Yaminah Childress: AI as a Tool for Small Teams
5. Yaminah Childress: Perplexity AI for Market Research
6. Yaminah Childress: Contractor AI for Legal and Forecasting

## Topics

- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- YANY Beauty (company)
- Phenomenal Foods Co (company)
- ChatGPT (tool)
- Perplexity AI (tool)
- Contractor AI (tool)
- Replit (tool)

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- [Advice Line with Katlin Smith of Simple Mills](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-01-23-advice-line-with-katlin-smith-of-simple-mills) (How I Built This)
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- [Advice Line: Tapping AI as a Resource for Your Business](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2026-01-01-advice-line-tapping-ai-as-a-resource-for-your-business) (How I Built This)

## Citing this page

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