Shows / Shelf to Scale
Shelf to Scale
Shelf to Scale is a podcast featuring conversations with the founders, operators, and industry leaders behind today’s growing consumer products. Each episode explores how brands expand distribution, navigate retail partnerships, and scale across new channels and markets. From emerging CPG/FMCG startups to established manufacturers, we unpack the real-world challenges of growing consumer products across retailers, regions, and distribution networks. Hosted by Devesh Tilokani, Shelf to Scale…
Episodes
Shelf to Scale$4M Company, $748 in the Bank: A CFO on CPG Cash Flow
A $4M company finished the year with $748 in the bank. A 100-store retail win would have run another brand out of cash in 5 weeks. Fractional CFO Scotty Palmer…
Shelf to Scale16 Hours, Zero Chocolate: How Mindful Monk Got Into Whole Foods
Alice Grey waited 16 hours for chocolate to come out of a 20K machine. It never did. Here's how she fixed it, got into Whole Foods and 140 stores, and why her…
Shelf to ScaleThe $200 Amazon Test Every CPG Founder Should Run First
There’s a $200 Amazon program that gets 30 brutally honest strangers to review your product before you commit to a manufacturer’s MOQs. Most founders have…
Shelf to ScaleEthnic Grocers Lose $210K a Year Per Store. Here's Why
Being in Whole Foods won't get your product into an ethnic grocery store. Aaqib Usmani, CEO at Tasteport, explains what actually does. How do CPG brands sell…
Shelf to ScaleHe Quit Goldman Sachs to Make Snacks From Food Waste
Yousuf Ahmed left Goldman Sachs to turn leftover oat milk pulp and corn grits into a better-for-you Cheetos. Why did his first product, a $15 cookie sandwich…
Shelf to ScaleHow to Get Your Product on Shelf in Canada | CPG Distribution
Jim Kavanagh spent 49 years in Canadian grocery as a Sobeys and Metro category manager, a distributor, and now a food broker. He explains what getting on shelf…
Shelf to ScaleHow This Ice Cream Brand Went From 200 to 700 Stores | CPG Pivot
He was in 200 stores with pints. He killed the entire product line and went to 700. The idea that did it came from his sister, talking about her toddler's baby…
Shelf to ScaleHe Did $1M Running In-Store Demos. Here's What Works
Matthew Kubick has run tens of thousands of in-store CPG demos since 2015, and he says a profitable demo can still be a failed one. Here is how he reads the…
Shelf to ScaleHow to Build in Public and Launch a Food Brand | Cotto
She was blending cottage cheese in a rented New York commercial kitchen and meeting strangers in parks and Starbucks to hand off the dips they'd bought online…
Shelf to ScaleHe Lost $120,000 to a Recall. Here's What Saved the Company
One dairy trace cost this Canadian plant based brand $120,000, three months of unpaid shipments, and a public recall. PlantUp founder Aamir Malkani on getting…
Shelf to ScaleSelf-Manufacturing a CPG Food Brand: Why oomé Built Its Own Smokehouse
Distributor or broker? Miki Talebi built oomé smoked tofu into Whole Foods and breaks down the CPG distribution mistake most founders make. If you think…
Shelf to ScaleHow to Choose a 3PL That Won't Lose Your Inventory | Rahim, Get Set Prep
How to choose a 3PL for your ecommerce or CPG brand from a 3PL owner who once had a fulfillment company lose his entire $1,500 order. Rahim is the founder of…
Shelf to ScaleRejected by Dragons' Den 3 Times. Now in 1,300 Stores.
An ice cream brand put freezers in the produce aisle, next to the bananas, and sales jumped 200% in six weeks. How does a local startup out-merchandise global…
Shelf to Scale0 to 250 Stores in 12 Months Selling Vietnamese Fruit Snacks
David Ngo helped build North America's #1 poop bag brand. Then he bet everything on dried mango from Vietnam and hit 250 stores in 12 months. How do you scale…
Shelf to ScaleThe Pricing Mistake That Kills Beverage Brands
Costco will pull every price you've ever sold at, find the lowest, and ask for 40% under it. Here's how a beverage operator prices so that never happens…
Shelf to ScaleFrom 0 to 1,500 Stores With Cottage Cheese Ice Cream
He made ice cream out of cottage cheese. It's now headed for 1,500 stores. How do you build a frozen category that didn't exist, then get Sprouts, Whole Foods…
Shelf to ScaleHe Lost 1,500 Stores Overnight. Here's What He Did Next.
Arshad Bahl built Amrita Health Foods into 1,500 stores across Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Wegmans. Then lost all of it overnight to a product recall. What came…
Shelf to ScaleThe Freezer Aisle Is The Hardest Shelf In Retail. Here's How To Get In | Stush Patty
The buyer conversation most CPG founders get completely wrong — and what to say instead. Opal Rowe started Stush Patty during COVID, delivering hot patties out…
Shelf to ScaleA 26-Year China Veteran's Complete Guide to Asia Sourcing
Paul Weedman has spent 26 years on the ground in Shenzhen sourcing products for brands from the West. He says 60–80% of Vietnam factory inputs still come from…
Shelf to ScaleA Distributor Blocked Her For Years. She's Still Here. They Aren't. Here's How
Miriam built Delicious Without Gluten from her basement to coast-to-coast distribution, an 8-year Boston Pizza contract, and a Wegmans pretzel that their own…
Shelf to ScaleHe Went From Zero to Sold Out on Amazon in 4 Months
Peanut butter is down 30% a year. Pistachio butter is up 500%. Utsab Roychowdhury and his partner quit investment banking to bet on the gap. In four months he…
Shelf to ScaleThe Laziest Way to Make UGC Ads in 2026 (Zero Creators)
David, 21 years old, just built three full UGC ad campaigns for Olipop, Feastables, and Rhode in under an hour. No creators. No studio. Just one product image…
Shelf to ScaleHis Hot Sauce Exploded. Then He SOLD 100,000 BOTTLES. Here's How
A customer opened a bottle of Lost in the Sauce and it exploded. Fresh mangoes were fermenting inside sealed glass. Karthy pulled every bottle, went back to…
Shelf to ScaleAstronauts on ARTEMIS II ate his cereal brand. Here is how he did it...
Daniel Carson almost deleted the email that put his cereal on the Artemis II mission. The Canadian Space Agency picked Goldy's strawberry lavender flavor and…
Shelf to ScaleShe Built a Popcorn Brand From Prison. Now in 4,500+ Stores Across Canada
She walked out of a federal prison with no money, no manufacturer, and no retail relationships. Today Comeback Snacks is in 4,500+ stores across Canada and…
Shelf to ScaleHe Sold 12,000,000 DUBAI CHOCOLATE Bars and Outsold Cadbury in the UK
For a month in 2025, a Dubai chocolate brand outsold Cadbury Dairy Milk in the UK . They launched just months earlier, with nine flavours, zero retailhistory…
Shelf to ScaleEx-Software Engineer Hits $100K/Month Selling Clay?
A software engineer turned e-commerce founder walks through how Claymoo scaled from $5–10K to $100K a month in under two years and why his technical background…
Shelf to ScaleHe Got Into 2,000 Stores Before Colgate Copied Him
Rohit Kumar found a bamboo toothbrush listed only in Japanese on a website in 2011, validated it by walking into Bay Area farmers markets with physical…
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TRAILER: Shelf to Scale
Shelf to Scale is a podcast featuring conversations with the founders, operators, and industry leaders behind today’s growing consumer products. Each episode…