10: Operations
Building a Team
Starting a food or beverage company can feel like a one-person show at first, but as your brand grows, so does the need for a strong team. Building the right team is critical not just for scaling operations, but for driving innovation, marketing, sales, and maintaining product quality. Whether you’re hiring your first employee or scaling up with a larger workforce, assembling a great team is a cornerstone of long-term success.
Let’s break down how to effectively build and manage your team to support your business.
Define Your Needs
Before you dive into hiring, it’s important to identify the key roles that need to be filled. In a small, emerging brand, team members may wear many hats. However, as you grow, specialization becomes increasingly necessary.
Key Roles for CPG Brands:
- Operations Manager: Manages production, logistics, and supply chain. This person ensures the product gets made on time and within budget, while managing relationships with suppliers and co-packers.
- Marketing Lead: Whether it’s social media, email marketing, or trade shows, having someone who can build and execute your brand’s marketing strategy is crucial for growth.
- Sales Manager: As your product moves into more retailers and distributors, a dedicated sales lead is necessary to handle relationships, pitch to new buyers, and manage trade promotions.
- Product Development: If your brand is continuously innovating or expanding its product line, a product development expert will ensure that new products align with your brand vision and meet regulatory standards.
- Finance/Accounting: Whether it’s bookkeeping, managing cash flow, or analyzing your cost of goods sold (COGS), having someone to handle finances is essential, even if it starts as a part-time or outsourced role.
Once you’ve identified the positions that need to be filled, you can decide how to approach hiring.
Hiring Strategy
1. Full-Time Employees vs. Freelancers
At the early stages, you may not need full-time employees for every role. For tasks like graphic design, bookkeeping, or digital marketing, hiring freelancers or part-time workers can provide flexibility and save costs. Platforms like Upwork or Fiverr can help you find talented freelancers. On the other hand, roles that are integral to your business, such as production or operations, are better suited to full-time employees who can dedicate their time and energy to your brand.
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2. Culture Fit
Culture fit is as important as skillset. You want to hire people who align with your company’s values and mission. For a food or beverage brand, passion for the product, an understanding of the CPG industry, and alignment with your brand’s ethos (such as sustainability, health, or innovation) should be high on the list of attributes.
For instance, TeaSquares, which focused on creating energy snacks, needed a team that was not only operationally savvy but also believed in the product’s mission to promote health and focus. Hiring people who shared that belief created a culture of enthusiasm and dedication to the brand.
Delegating and Letting Go
Many founders struggle with delegating tasks as they grow. The early days of a CPG brand are often characterized by founders doing everything themselves—formulating recipes, making sales calls, and even fulfilling orders. But to scale, you must learn to delegate.
Delegating effectively requires trust. Once you’ve hired the right people, let them own their roles. This doesn’t mean stepping back completely, but allowing your team the space to contribute their expertise. The more you can delegate, the more time you free up to focus on strategic growth, new products, and long-term vision.
Build a Strong Company Culture
Your company culture is the glue that holds your team together. It’s the set of shared beliefs, values, and practices that shape how your employees work and interact. Building a strong culture is critical in the early stages because it helps attract like-minded people who are passionate about your brand.
Consider incorporating the following:
- Transparency: Keeping your team in the loop with how the business is doing, both the successes and challenges, builds trust and buy-in. It also gives everyone a sense of ownership.
- Open Communication: Create an environment where feedback is welcomed, and innovation is encouraged. This leads to a more dynamic team that can adapt quickly and improve consistently.
- Celebrating Wins: Don’t forget to celebrate even small successes. Whether it’s launching a new product, securing a new retail account, or completing a successful marketing campaign, these milestones keep morale high.
Training and Development
Hiring great talent is only the first step. To retain that talent, you’ll need to invest in their growth. Create opportunities for your team to learn and develop new skills. For instance, send your marketing manager to an industry conference, or allow your operations manager to attend supply chain workshops.
As your brand grows, fostering an environment of learning will help ensure your team continues to innovate and adapt.
Final Thoughts: Growing Together
Building a team is one of the most rewarding—and challenging—aspects of growing a CPG brand. A strong team can propel your brand forward by bringing in fresh ideas, new skills, and the capacity to scale. Take the time to hire people who not only have the right skills but also share your vision and values. With the right people in place, your brand will be ready to meet the challenges of growth and thrive in the competitive CPG landscape.