Fractional Ops for CPG Brands: When It Works, What It Costs
Fractional ops rates are public. The missing number is break-even: a $90K retainer clears at one documented dollar in five. A full-time COO needs 69%.
Trade Spend Reconciliation: The Ledger Nobody Owns
Cinderhaven's ledger holds $245K a year in contestable trade deductions. The review calendar, not the evidence, decides how much the brand may argue.
TPM Software Won't Fix Trade Spend You Can't Measure
TPM software measures the trade spend it can reconcile. At one CPG brand, $380,000 a year leaks into the gap it can't see. Reconcile before you buy.
Retail Deductions: What You Write Off Without Checking
A $25M food brand writes off ~$67K in invalid retailer deductions a year without opening the file. Where the money hides in the data, and why it decays.
Trade Spend Is Not Marketing Spend. The P&L Proves It.
Book trade spend as marketing and your gross margin reads 52% when it's 44%. Why ASC 606 makes it contra-revenue, and what the misfiling hides.
Private Label vs. Branded: The Margin Math for Food Brands
A branded product's 45% gross margin loses 15 points to trade spend and deductions. Private label's 30% stays close to what it keeps.
Trade Promotion Management: Where the Process Breaks Down
Trade promotion management data lives in three systems with three owners. 40% of small-brand trade spend goes unmeasured because nobody reconciles them.
Trade Spend Leakage: Your Top Retailer Is Probably Your Worst Account
Trade spend leakage explains why a brand's biggest account, reranked by net-revenue yield, often falls to the bottom of the list.
trade spend leakagetrade deductiontrade spendnet revenueCPG analyticsretailer profitabilitypromotional analysis
Capital Allocation in CPG: Where the Next Dollar Earns the Most
The same $1M of revenue yields ~$54,000 more contribution through retail than through distribution. Most brands allocate by revenue rank, not contribution rank.
CPG Analytics Is Fifteen Questions. Most CEOs Answer Them from Memory.
A specialty food brand's operating decisions are finite and answerable with rules, not dashboards. CPG analytics as a question engine, not a BI project.
Remittance Parsing Is the Silent Bottleneck in Deduction Recovery
Retailer remittance stubs arrive as PDFs in inconsistent formats. Manual remittance parsing is the bottleneck between deduction discovery and recovery.
A Five-Layer Cost Waterfall Reveals Which Channels Actually Make Money
Applying a five-layer cost waterfall to 10 channels shows gross revenue rank and contribution rank diverge by 3-4 positions for most specialty food brands.
Channel Profitability Analysis: Your Biggest Channel Is Rarely Your Best Investment
Channel profitability analysis ranks channels by contribution after trade, compliance, and deductions. The highest-revenue channel is often the lowest return.
SKU Rationalization: Your Worst SKUs Are Not the Ones With the Lowest Revenue
SKU rationalization by revenue rank misses the SKUs bleeding margin through trade cost, chargebacks, and velocity decay. 35% drive zero profit.
Food Broker Fees: Commission, Retainer, or Both
Commission rates run 5-12% but the fee structure (commission, retainer, or hybrid) determines what the broker prioritizes. Real ranges and total cost analysis.
Retail Launch Cost Model: The Five Layers That Turn a $500K Placement Negative
A $500K placement can close year one at negative cash. The five cost layers to model before you commit: slotting, trade, compliance, float, and overhead.
Specialty Food Brand Operational Costs: The Ten Decisions Behind $1.4M–$2.3M a Year
Ten decisions nobody owns drive specialty food brand operational costs of $1.4M–$2.3M a year. Each is answerable with data the brand already has.
Gross-to-Net: The Margin Analysis CPG Brands Skip
The gross-to-net bridge is built from scan allowances, MCBs, slotting fees, and distributor deductions, none of which appear on a standard P&L.
Food Broker Management Starts Where the Quarterly Deck Ends
Food broker management needs its own data layer. Brokers earn on shipments, not scans. What Retail Link, SPINS, and UNFI Connect show that the deck omits.
Trade Spend Benchmarks for Small Food Brands: 15-25% of Revenue, Line by Line
How much trade spend is normal for a specialty food brand, what the money is actually buying, and which components carry no performance link at all.