# Ops Spotlight: Laura Romano of Graza

- Show: [The Startup CPG Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast)
- Published: 2025-10-11
- Length: 51m
- Episode: 204
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-10-11-ops-spotlight-laura-romano-of-graza
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/1babca51

## Summary

Laura Romano, Director of Operations at Graza, discusses scaling operations for the olive oil brand, drawing on her prior experience at Blue Marble Ice Cream and Setum Mill. She details Graza's supply chain strategies, including managing co-manufacturer relationships in Spain, optimizing inventory for fresh harvest cycles, and navigating the complexities of launching new SKUs like Frizzle. Romano emphasizes the importance of rigorous forecasting, packaging redundancy, and balancing scrappy execution with sustainable infrastructure as the company grows from early-stage to enterprise-level distribution.

## Outline

1. Introduction: Laura Romano and Graza Overview
2. Laura's Background: Blue Marble Ice Cream and Setum Mill
3. Early Operations at Graza: Warehousing, EDI, and Target Onboarding
4. The Ops Leader's Role: Balancing Founder Vision and Operational Reality
5. Critical KPIs: Weekly Inventory Roll-Forwards and Raw Material Positioning
6. Managing Inventory Swings: Overstock Strategies and Harvest Cycles
7. Supply Chain Optimization and Partner Communication
8. New SKU Launches: Aligning Product Development with Sales Timelines
9. Co-man Pricing Negotiations and Supply Chain Redundancy
10. Packaging Strategy: Shelf Impact, Lead Times, and Supplier Redundancy
11. DTC vs. Retail Fulfillment and Inventory Risks
12. Scaling Infrastructure: From Scrappy Spreadsheets to Systematic Sharing
13. Handling Failures: Quantitative Relationship Management and Plan B
14. Decision Frameworks: When to Change Formulation or Case Pack Size
15. Conclusion: Future Automation and Hiring for Ops Roles

## Topics

- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Packaging design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/packaging-design)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Graza (company)
- Blue Marble Ice Cream (company)
- Setum Mill (company)
- Target (company)
- Fair (company)
- Sprouts (company)
- Sizzle (product)
- Drizzle (product)
- Frizzle (product)

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## Citing this page

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