Jennifer Barney - Exiting One of the First Almond Butter Brands & Scaling CPG Brands in Today's Market

Shelf Help: The Tactical CPG Podcast

On this episode, we’re joined by Jennifer Barney, the founder of Barney Butter and one of the sharpest minds in CPG today.

Jennifer launched Barney Butter back in 2006—well before almond butter went mainstream—and scaled it into a household name before exiting the business in 2011. Since then, she’s become a go-to advisor to emerging food brands like Hero Bread and Oat Haus, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at General Mills' venture studio, a Director at Positively Good Snacks, and a Substack author (The Business of Food).

In this episode, Jennifer drops serious knowledge on how early-stage brands can navigate retail, boost velocity, and avoid the cash traps of over-distribution. We dive into packaging strategy (why it’s often a band-aid for deeper issues), the foodservice channel, demo execution, bootstrapping vs fundraising, and her take on why A2 dairy is the trend she regrets not jumping on.

Episode Highlights:
🌰 How Barney Butter helped take almond butter mainstream
🛻 Picking up almonds in a Suburban (literally)
📈 Why early-stage brands should focus on velocity, not doors
💸 The dangerous lag in distributor cash flow
📦 When you should (and shouldn’t) rebrand
🎯 How to actually execute demos and merchandising at scale
🏪 What “retail readiness” really means for emerging brands
🥛 Why she’s bullish on A2 dairy (and missed the window)
🧃 The Trojan horse approach to packaging
💰 Bootstrapping tips in a tough funding environment
📦 Amazon
🧠 Why great packaging still won’t save you from poor execution

⏱️ Table of Contents
00:00 – Intro
03:00 – Buying Ingredients Direct & Building Relationships with Processors
05:00 – Why Velocity > Distribution
10:00 – Cash Flow Pitfalls in Retail
14:00 – Demo Strategy, Broker Coordination, and In-Store Tactics
18:00 – Foodservice Channel: Pros, Cons, & Guerilla Selling
22:00 – Trojan Horse Packaging & What Makes Design Actually Work
27:00 – Rebrand Readiness & Strategic Brand Identity Shifts
33:00 – Bootstrapping Smart: Premium Pricing and Efficient Growth
36:00 – The Amazon Beast: Common Pitfalls & Inventory Woes
38:00 – Trends She Missed (A2 Milk!)
41:00 – Where to Follow Jennifer

Links:
Follow Jennifer on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferbarney/
The Business of Food – https://jenniferbarney.substack.com
Follow Adam on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg

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