# CPG Canary

> CPG Canary (https://cpgcanary.ai) is a deep research and strategy engine for consumer packaged goods (CPG) food & beverage brands. It interviews a founder about their product and business, deploys sixteen research agents in parallel, and reconciles their findings into a single strategic report in about 15 minutes. Afterward, an interactive Strategy Engine stays loaded with the full business context for ongoing decisions. One plan at $99/month with unlimited usage and a 10-day free trial (no card required).

## Key facts

- Audience: CPG food & beverage founders, operators, and teams - from pre-revenue and emerging brands to mid-sized CPG companies.
- The analysis: 16 specialist agents produce one reconciled report covering market & trends, economic environment, channel economics, packaging format, brand strategy, buyer personas, retailer pitch preparation, regulatory risk, private-label threat, and failure patterns.
- Data sources: licensed retail pricing APIs, SEC EDGAR 10-K retailer filings, Federal Reserve (FRED) economic series refreshed daily, live web intelligence, and a proprietary CPG knowledge base: launch case studies, ingredient and category-COGS benchmarks, distribution cost tiers, and pricing frameworks.
- Math is deterministic: margins, per-unit pricing, and channel economics are computed in code; the AI interprets the numbers, it does not generate them.
- Test Kitchen: pre-launch concept testing. Describe a product you haven't launched yet and get price-checked competitors, unit economics computed in code, a read against documented launches that failed, and a synthetic shopper panel reacting in their own words, in minutes.
- Always on: weekly intelligence dossiers for every tracked product, plus Portfolio Intelligence (cannibalization, supply-chain overlap, competitive overlap, health score) once two or more products are analyzed.
- Privacy: user product data is private to the account, never shared across users, and never used to train models. Full export to DOCX and JSON.
- Pricing: $99/month, one plan, unlimited analyses, Test Kitchen runs, and chat, 10-day free trial with no card required, no contracts.

## Pages

- [Home](https://cpgcanary.ai/): product overview, how it works, data sources, pricing, FAQ
- [Free-trial signup](https://app.cpgcanary.ai/?mode=signup): start the 10-day free trial, no card required
- [App sign in](https://app.cpgcanary.ai): existing accounts
- [Terms of Service](https://cpgcanary.ai/terms)
- [Privacy Policy](https://cpgcanary.ai/privacy)

## Guides

Practical reference guides for CPG food & beverage founders:

- [CPG retail margins by channel](https://cpgcanary.ai/guides/retail-margins): retailer/distributor/broker margin stacks and the gross-margin floor per channel
- [How to price a CPG food product](https://cpgcanary.ai/guides/how-to-price-a-cpg-product): shelf-back pricing and price-pack architecture
- [How to pitch a retail buyer](https://cpgcanary.ai/guides/pitch-a-retail-buyer): category review timing and the questions buyers ask
- [Why CPG products fail](https://cpgcanary.ai/guides/why-cpg-products-fail): recurring failure patterns and early warning signals
- [How to find a co-packer](https://cpgcanary.ai/guides/find-a-co-packer): tolling vs turnkey, MOQs, certifications, vetting
- [Private label competition](https://cpgcanary.ai/guides/private-label-threat): price-gap exposure analysis and defenses
- [CPG velocity benchmarks](https://cpgcanary.ai/guides/velocity-benchmarks): units/store/week survival zones by category and how to measure
- [Slotting fees explained](https://cpgcanary.ai/guides/slotting-fees): per-store and per-chain costs, FTC figures, who charges nothing
- [Broker vs. distributor](https://cpgcanary.ai/guides/broker-vs-distributor): roles, commissions vs. margins, hiring order
- [Trade-spend planning](https://cpgcanary.ai/guides/trade-spend-planning): the 15-25% of gross sales, components, deduction management

## Tools & reference

- [Free CPG calculators](https://cpgcanary.ai/tools): the full set of free tools
- [CPG margin calculator](https://cpgcanary.ai/tools/margin-calculator): free channel-waterfall calculator (retailer/distributor/broker margins, trade spend, freight)
- [CPG pricing calculator](https://cpgcanary.ai/tools/pricing-calculator): shelf-back pricing both directions - target shelf price to COGS ceiling, or COGS to required shelf price
- [CPG velocity calculator](https://cpgcanary.ai/tools/velocity-calculator): free break-even velocity calculator (slotting payback in units/store/week vs category survival benchmarks)
- [Slotting fee calculator](https://cpgcanary.ai/tools/slotting-fee-calculator): authorization cost estimates (SKUs x doors x channel fee ranges, free-fill alternative)
- [Shelf stress test](https://cpgcanary.ai/tools/shelf-stress-test): free 8-question retail-readiness self-assessment with a letter grade, built on the published benchmarks above
- [CPG retail glossary](https://cpgcanary.ai/glossary): 36 plain-English definitions (velocity, ACV, slotting, scan-backs, trade spend, co-packing)
- [vs. ChatGPT](https://cpgcanary.ai/compare/cpg-canary-vs-chatgpt), [vs. consultants](https://cpgcanary.ai/compare/cpg-canary-vs-consultants), [vs. syndicated data](https://cpgcanary.ai/compare/cpg-canary-vs-syndicated-data): honest comparisons

## Company

- CPG Canary is built by Lloyd Labs LLC.
- Contact: info@cpgcanary.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cpg-canary