r/CPGIndustry

Bit of background. I'm italian, spent most of my career in business development (tech).

A friend of mine makes specialty italian food, small operation, product is genuinely good, and he's been trying to get into US retail for a while with not much to show for it.

I told him look, finding the right people and getting in front of them is basically what I've done for 15 years, let me help you.

But I'm a bit lost atm.

Figured step one was just building a list of who to even approach, which turned into me going through every specialty retailer and distributor vendor submission page I could find. Got to 103 before I gave up.

The things I did not expect:

- a quarter of them just funnel you into RangeMe. Lassens literally says contact outside RangeMe "will not be considered". so that's a paywall between my friend and a buyer, effectively

- about half have their own form. the rest is a pdf you're meant to print and mail (in 2026), a plain email address, or a portal you need a login for

- requirements are all over the place. Wheatsville wants $2M liability, a UPC and a food manufacturing license. Hunger Mountain only wants you if you're in Vermont or within 100 miles, which rules him out immediately, etc etc.

The thing that gets me is I do this for a living in another industry and I still spent weeks just making a spreadsheet.

No idea how someone running production, sales and everything else is supposed to find the time.

What I want to know from people who've actually gotten into retail:

how did you build your target list in the first place? did you just google and make a spreadsheet like an idiot and launch a cold outreach campaign, use a broker, or did a distributor bring you the accounts?

Is cold email outreach worth it? Perhaps for smaller retailers?

Thanks for your help

I have a BS in Computer Science and currently work in tech consulting at Big4. My work has focused on data, process improvement, analytics, and technology implementation.

I don’t see myself staying in traditional consulting long-term. I’ve realized I want to work **closer to a physical product/business** where I can see the impact of my work. I’m especially interested in CPG (food, beverage, consumer products) and genuinely enjoy learning about how products are made, forecasting, inventory, quality, process improvement, and getting products from production to consumers.
I also don’t necessarily want to be a pure software engineer. I like being technical, but I’m much more interested in the intersection of **technology, business, and operations**.

I’m considering roles in:
Supply chain / logistics
Operations / operations excellence
Manufacturing / continuous improvement
Product operations
CPG analytics/strategy
Quality/product quality

I’m particularly drawn to operations/supply chain because it seems like a natural way to leverage my consulting and analytical background while getting closer to the actual product. But I’m worried about pigeonholing myself into logistics if another path would better fit my background and long-term goals.

**For those in CPG, manufacturing, supply chain, or operations: what would you recommend someone with my background target next?**

Would you pursue operations/supply chain, or try to enter CPG through analytics, strategy, product, or technology first? And what job titles should I be searching for?

I’m currently job searching in Chicago, so any advice on breaking into the industry would be greatly appreciated!

Hey guys, so as the title says, I’m really struggling to get past the OEM’s manufacturers MOQ. Across two different category of products I’ve enquired so far the MOQ is always so far fetch off that there isn’t any middle ground for negotiation.

I know even for manufacturers when they order raw materials they have a certain MOQs too hence I can imagine a production run will probably need those X amount of MOQs, but with that said 7,500 qty of a single SKU before even testing the market feels irresponsible as well and launching with a single SKU without 2-3 different variants makes it difficult to fully understand consumer preferences.

For context, I come from tech background and have zero CPG background or experience so I will gladly appreciate any advice on how you guys got past this 0-1 stage hurdle.

I've been working in revenue growth management for about 10 years now. I am slowly trying to move into a leadership role in this space, and I want to have a pulse on what everyone thinks when it comes to RGM, especially within the CPG industry.

If you read about the problems with all the avocado oil brands failing testing, what is your take? In isolation I’d say could have stemmed from issues during the manufacturing run with ingredient error during the change over process from product SKU to product SKU (maybe they were making regular chips during one shift and switched to the avo oil chips during the next run) but since it’s happened across so many brand products, I’m trying to wrap my head around that without jumping to nefariousness.

Most investors read the income statement and balance sheet, but miss critical details hidden in the 10-K about where a company actually makes its money.
This guide walks through exactly how to find and analyze geographic revenue breakdowns in SEC filings, including:
• Which sections to check
• How to interpret country and region exposure
• Why geographic concentration risk matters
• Common pitfalls to avoid
Full step-by-step breakdown here:
https://metricshour.com/blog/how-to-read-a-10-k-filing-for-geographic-revenue-data-2/
Have you ever dug into the geographic revenue notes in a 10-K? Worth the effort?

Hi! I’m a founder of a better for you snack company and we are trying to get into Central Market. We are in other specialty stores like Erewhon and based out of Houston. What would be the best way to go about this? Any distributor/broker? Or just keep emailing the buyer until someone bites?