The Good Food CFO podcast · The Good Food CFO

100 Apply, 2 Get In: Expert Advice on How to Beat the Co-Manufacturer Odds and Create a Bidding War

·48 min·3 clips

Rescale says a simple template can lift response rates from 10% to 65%.

1. The Good Food CFO podcast episode centers on co-manufacturing for emerging CPG brands and the practical problem of getting products made. 2. Sarah Delavan hosts the conversation with Julia Megson, the CEO and co-founder of Rescale, and Chelsea Steer produces the show. 3. The episode asks what founders should do when finding a co-manufacturer starts to feel like a sales process. 4. Sarah says the guest has experience as director of ops and item review panelist at Trader Joe’s, head of category management at Farmigo, and a supply chain and commercialization consultant. 5. Julia says her Farmigo job started with cold-calling farmers to sell CSA software before she moved into supply chain merchandising. 6. She describes Trader Joe’s as a very lean company with about 250 people in the corporate office and roughly 500 stores. 7. Julia contrasts a Farmigo warehouse of 5,000 to 20,000 square feet with a Trader Joe’s warehouse of 600,000 square feet. 8. She says the scale difference helped her see how quickly food moves from warehouse to store, especially for fresh produce. 9. Sarah and Julia discuss how COVID showed the fragility of that fast-moving system when even 24 to 48 hours can disrupt supply. 10. Julia explains that contract manufacturing means retailers like Trader Joe’s, Costco, Whole Foods 365, and Target rely on outside factories for private-label products. 11. She says she visited over 100 contract manufacturers across the U.S. and Canada and saw both large robotic plants and mom-and-pop facilities. 12. Julia notes that manufacturing is fluid because some facilities make their own branded products and also produce for other brands. 13. She uses Popchips as an example of a company that once used outside capacity before later growing its own manufacturing business. 14. Sarah adds that some brands manufacture both their own products and other labels, sometimes with different ingredient versions for different channels. 15. Julia says she talked to over 100 brands before starting Rescale and kept hearing the same pain around co-manufacturing. 16. She describes a common pattern: founders try alone, come up empty-handed, or pay a consultant that can cost $25,000 to $50,000. 17. Julia says Rescale built a database, a CRM for this workflow, and templates that organize outreach and responses. 18. She says the company also offers higher-touch support for RFPs and contract review, including warnings about exclusivity clauses and IP issues. 19. The tone is practical and operations-heavy, with Sarah asking detailed follow-up questions and Julia answering in process terms. 20. Founders scaling from commissary kitchens and seeking their first co-manufacturer will get the most out of this episode. 21. Brand owners wanting celebrity stories or broad food-industry commentary will probably skip it.

As heard by us

A practical look at the choices behind co-manufacturing for small and medium CPG brands.

The episode keeps its focus on a real pressure point for small and medium CPG brands: how to find, negotiate with, and manage co-manufacturing partnerships. Its clearest strength is the practical reminder that manufacturing does not have to move in one straight line.

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Why you'd press play

You need a practical way to think about finding, negotiating with, and managing a co-manufacturing partnership.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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