Breaking the Monopoly: How Founders Can Navigate a Consolidated Market
Release Date: 03/10/2025
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The Good Food CFO podcast
In this Building a Business on Your Own Terms episode, Sarah sits down with Matt Cross, co-founder of Harvest Chocolate, a bean-to-bar chocolate company in Tecumseh, Michigan. Matt shares how he and his wife Elizabeth transformed their culinary expertise into a thriving chocolate business that started in their kitchen during the pandemic and now operates a successful retail location with multiple sales channels. Matt reveals how Office Hours helped confirm his business was financially healthy and ready for strategic growth. Listeners will discover practical insights about: Using profit...
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The Good Food CFO podcast
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In a world where food startups chase rapid growth and quick exits, People's Choice Beef Jerky stands as a refreshing counterexample. This Los Angeles-based company has been crafting premium meat products since 1929, and is now thriving under fourth-generation leadership. Their story offers valuable lessons for food founders looking to build sustainable, profitable businesses that can withstand the test of time. In this episode of the Good Food CFO podcast, Sarah Delevan sits down with owners and siblings Brian and Sara Bianchetti as they share all that they have learned while continuing to...
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Community, not FOMO: Sarah Returns to Expo West After 10 Years Away
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Breaking the Monopoly: How Founders Can Navigate a Consolidated Market
The Good Food CFO podcast
In this eye-opening episode of the Good Food CFO podcast, Sarah Delevan talks with Stacy Mitchell, co-executive director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, about the myths of market consolidation and how food founders can fight back against corporate monopolies. Stacy Mitchell is a writer, strategist, and policy advocate whose work focuses on dismantling concentrated corporate power and building thriving local economies. As co-executive director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, she has played a leading role in today's growing anti-monopoly movement and has authored influential...
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Ask The Good Food CFO: Is Rent a COGS, How to Establish Channel Margins, and the Hidden Costs of Co-Packers
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In this special episode of The Good Food CFO podcast, we’re sharing highlights from our live Q&A session with BABOYOT members. These quarterly events are an awesome opportunity to connect with Founders and answer their most pressing financial questions. Some of the topics we tackled: Food Service vs. Wholesale Pricing: Discover why conventional wisdom about which channel is most profitable doesn't always hold true. One founder shares how running her numbers completely changed her channel strategy. The COGS “Gray Area”: Is your kitchen rental really part of your Cost...
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Building a Profitable Business: Advice from a $400 Million Brand Founder
The Good Food CFO podcast
In this episode of The Good Food CFO Podcast, Sarah Delevan shares candid insights from a recent meeting with the founder of a brand generating over $400 million in annual revenue, and doing it profitably. Through a series of powerful "sound bites" captured during their conversation, Sarah reveals how this founder's approach challenges traditional industry wisdom while delivering remarkable results. You’ll hear: Why marketing shouldn't drive your offers and how to structure profitable promotions The surprising truth about driving trial in e-commerce vs retail How to identify and...
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BABOYOT with Hope Lawrence of Hudson Henry Baking Co.: Building and Selling a Million Dollar Brand
The Good Food CFO podcast
In this episode of the Good Food CFO Podcast, Sarah Delavan sits down with Hope Lawrence, founder of Hudson Henry Baking Co., who shares her remarkable journey of building a profitable granola business on her own terms. From starting with just $4,000 in her farmhouse kitchen to reaching $1.25M in annual revenue, Hope's story proves that sustainable growth and profitability are possible without outside investment. In this conversation, Hope shares: The strategic reason she chose granola Why she was laser focus on profitability from day one, and the sales channel strategy that enabled...
info_outlineIn this eye-opening episode of the Good Food CFO podcast, Sarah Delevan talks with Stacy Mitchell, co-executive director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, about the myths of market consolidation and how food founders can fight back against corporate monopolies.
Stacy Mitchell is a writer, strategist, and policy advocate whose work focuses on dismantling concentrated corporate power and building thriving local economies. As co-executive director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, she has played a leading role in today's growing anti-monopoly movement and has authored influential works including "Big Box Swindle" and "Amazon's Stranglehold."
You’ll hear:
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The Invisible Rules: How corporations have made market rules invisible, positioning us as consumers rather than citizens with power to change policies
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Myth-Busting: Hard evidence disproving the "bigger is better" narrative, including the North Dakota pharmacy model that outperforms corporate chains
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Food System Consolidation: How the suspension of the Robinson-Patman Act in 1980 allowed big retailers to demand preferential treatment, squeezing independent grocers
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Beyond Consumer Power: Why "voting with your dollars" is important but insufficient for creating systemic change
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Paths Forward: Practical actions for founders to engage with local policymakers and join the growing movement to enforce antitrust laws
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Signs of Hope: Recent shifts in policy approach showing how the tide is turning against unchecked consolidation
More from Stacy:
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
"The Great Grocery Squeeze" in The Atlantic
Stacy's TED Talk: "Why We Can't Shop Our Way to a Better Economy"
This episode is brought to you by Settle.
Settle helps you make smarter decisions, and keep your business on track to grow sustainably. Head over to settle.com/goodfood to learn how brands like Carnivore Snax use Settle to manage their cash flow and growth.
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