Resilient as F*k!

Surviving the Retail Shelf and the SmartSweets Playbook with Koreann & Michelle from Roadmap CPG

Episode Summary

Getting your product on the grocery shelf is hard, but getting it off the shelf is the real battle. Michelle McKay-Prychidny and Koreann Webster from Roadmap CPG join Vivian Perez to reveal the gritty, behind-the-scenes playbook they used to help scale unicorn brands like SmartSweets and Vega.

Episode Notes

"Getting distribution is not easy... but the hard part is getting it off the shelf."

In this episode of Resilient as F*k!, host Vivian Perez (Vamp Brand Studio) sits down with CPG veterans Michelle McKay-Prychidny and Koreann Webster, the co-founders of Roadmap CPG. After serving as early key employees for industry giants like Vega and SmartSweets, they have seen exactly what it takes to survive the retail shelf—and the expensive mistakes that get brands kicked out.

Key Topics Covered:

• The Unicorn Build: What it was really like inside SmartSweets during its massive growth, and how they built a groundswell of demand before ever hitting the US market.
• Retailer Apprehension: Why grocery buyers will say "no" to a great product simply because a founder doesn't know the industry language or onboarding process.
• The Trap of Going Too Wide: Why going deep with a few retailers and validating your sales is better than launching in 1,000 doors unprepared.
• Financial Foundations: The critical importance of trade spend guardrails, bottom-up forecasting, and planning your pricing strategy five years in advance.
• Cutting Through the Noise: Brilliant (and slightly crazy) email hacks to get the attention of busy retail buyers.