2025 brand goals; AI for KeHE/UNFI ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Today's Ops Newsletter is presented by: | | OPERATIONS NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 3
| | Hi Startup CPGers, Hey Ops leaders! For volume 3, we're getting you inside the minds of emerging brands in CPG. Are you setting goals, but need some inspiration? We got you. PSSST! Don't forget to join the #operations channel on Slack! | | WE ASKED BRANDS FOR THEIR 2025 OPS GOALS:
| | Jubilee's founder, Ashley Waldman, plans to "find a lower MOQ copacker, secure backup ingredient suppliers (especially onshore), and reformulate to reduce COGS", all in response to the current tariff situation. Ashley noted this is forcing her to look at " swapping ingredients only available offshore (like monkfruit), which could actually be better for our product's taste, anyway!" Jubilee's is a flavored, organic milk brand sweetened with fruits and vegetables and has zero added sugar. | | | | Daniel Bareket of 7th Heaven Chocolate shared " increasing production to keep up with demand - something we've struggled with for a few years...now we've brought in a brand new line." 7th Heaven Chocolate is also focused on tightening up margins by moving completely to ocean shipping instead of mixing in air and ocean. They're hoping to get enough inventory to achieve that goal this year. 7th Heaven Chocolate is a vegan oat milk chocolate brand. | | | | Porter Bayne of World Spice is introducing "new streamlined process for new stackable tin packaging" as they move away from single-use plastics across their 200+ SKUs in multiple sizes and forms. World Spice sources and shares spices and teas from around the world. | | | | Shagun Maheshwari from Papaya is focusing on certifications and quality control as they launch their manufacturing facility for their brand. Papaya makes biodegradable, plastic-free, non-toxic menstrual pads that work by coagulating blood. | | | | Kelley Scanlin from Pure Simple Foods is looking to "offset tariff pressure with better sourcing – We're rebuilding our supply chain with closer-to-home growers to stabilize pricing." Pure Simple Foods is a sprouted foods brand that's high in fiber, gluten-free, vegan, and non-GMO. | | | | Kaylaan is investing in compostable packaging solutions and noted: "We keep hearing that biodegradable pouches are not there yet to keep the product fresh. Our goal is to invest slightly more and custom make these pouches with the right material to extend shelf life." Kaylaan makes eco-friendly, plastic-free toothpaste tablets, toothbrushes, and more for upgraded dental routines. | | | | Ning from Furrther shared their need for " supplier negotiation for better payment terms and SLAs" and "a good formula for inventory planning and forecasting, especially around new product launches." Furrther is a pet lifestyle brand. | | | | Cheeks Ahoy's founder, Aaron Black, is making inventory management a top priority and wants to get an inventory management software implemented. The goal? "Help automate collating orders, predict inventory demands, and streamline the production process". Cheeks Ahoy makes household reusables designed to replace many of your daily single use products. | | | | Did you know Cin7 Core helps you manage production? You've probably heard that Cin7 Core is StartupCPG's preferred solution for inventory management software. But you may be unaware that Core is a leading software for SMB manufacturing as well. Whether you produce in house or through a contract manufacturer, Core helps you track every input from supplier to WIP to final product. Whether you do process or discrete manufacturing, tracking every input and its cost has become even more important in today's economic environment. Let Cin7 remove your manufacturing and inventory headaches so you can focus on delighting your customers. | | YAZA: USING CHATGPT FOR KEHE/UNFI AUTOMATION Grant Thompson, Finance & Logistics Associate at Yaza Foods from Yaza Foods (they make refrigerated labneh) figured out how to automate all their distributor data stuff using just ChatGPT - no coding skills needed! WHY THEY CHOSE AI They had a major shipping disaster (8 out of 10 orders went to the wrong place) and realized they could only see current data from KeHE/UNFI - no history to help fix things. Took weeks of chaos to sort it out. WHAT THEY BUILT WITH AI Grant got ChatGPT to write code that turned their daily hour-long inventory check into an automated system that: - Logs into KeHE Connect every morning
- Pulls inventory for all SKUs at all DCs
- Saves timestamped data to Excel
- Compares current stock to past sales
THE RESULT?! Data collection went from hours to seconds. They can now spot inventory issues 2-3 weeks ahead and use the data for buyer negotiations too. Grant's advice: "If you do something every single morning, see if ChatGPT can automate it - you don't need to know how to code." | | OPS DATABASES 💥 Did you know Startup CPG has FREE databases that our community can access? We see questions about 3PL and freight come up often, but we have resources reaching far beyond those two! | | UPCOMING EVENTS 🎟️ Find all our upcoming events - virtual and in-person here. | | TELL US WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND! 💬 Ops leaders - your voices are so valuable - here's your chance to share what's on your mind, what hurdles you're looking to jump over, and more - help us connect industry dots for you! 👉 GET IN TOUCH | | → Databases: Our lists of grocery chains, CPG brokers, 3PLs, distributors, etc.
→ Newswire: Submit your brand news as a press release (for free!)
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Startup CPG 13157 Mindanao Way #3150 Marina del Rey, CA 90292 | | Startup CPG 13157 Mindanao Way #3150 Marina del Rey, CA 90292 |
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