CPG founder guides
The questions founders and operators at emerging and mid-sized CPG companies end up asking - answered with the numbers, not platitudes. Written by the team behind CPG Canary's deep-research engine.
CPG retail margins by channel: what your product needs to survive
Retailer, distributor, and broker margins for every channel - and the gross margin floor that keeps you alive in distributed retail.
PRICINGHow to price a CPG food product without killing your margin
Shelf-back pricing, price-pack architecture, and the five mistakes that quietly destroy unit economics.
RETAILHow to pitch a retail buyer: what CPG buyers actually ask
Category review timing, the five questions every buyer asks, and how the pitch changes between natural, conventional, and club.
RISKWhy CPG food products fail: the patterns behind the failure rate
Margin-less growth, velocity collapse, premature expansion - the recurring patterns, and the early signals that predict them.
OPERATIONSHow to find a co-packer for your food product
Tolling vs. turnkey, MOQ mechanics, the certifications that matter, vetting questions, and the red flags that cost brands months.
COMPETITIONPrivate label competition: when store brands come for your category
How retailers pick private-label targets, the price-gap exposure test, and the defenses that survive contact with the shelf.
RETAILCPG velocity benchmarks: what units per store per week really means
The survival zones by category and set, dollar velocity in the natural channel, and how to measure yours the way buyers do.
CHANNEL ECONOMICSSlotting fees: what shelf placement actually costs
Per-store and per-chain ranges, the FTC's numbers, which retailers charge nothing, and how brands negotiate the fee down or away.
OPERATIONSFood broker vs. distributor: who does what, and what each costs
Brokers sell, distributors deliver: commissions vs. margins, the customer-of-record trap, and the order to hire them in.
CHANNEL ECONOMICSTrade-spend planning: budgeting the 15-25% before it budgets you
The components, the gross-to-net math, deduction management, and a first-year plan that survives contact with distributor checks.
These guides are the general case. Your product isn't.
CPG Canary runs the specific case: sixteen agents researching your product against live retail pricing, SEC 10-K retailer filings, FRED economic data, and a proprietary CPG knowledge base of case studies and cost benchmarks - reconciled into one report in about 15 minutes.
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