Foodpreneur with Chelsea Ford
Imagine a consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry where both small and large players coexist on a level playing field, consumers have choice, there’s integrity in what they’re buying and they experience innovative, sustainable products.
In this weekly podcast, hosted by founder, award-winning coach, consultant & small business advocate, Chelsea Ford, you'll hear interviews with incredible founders and hard-to-reach industry specialists as well as practical and actionable content that directly supports your CPG business to grow, become more profitable and thrive.
Learn more at www.chelseaford.com .
Foodpreneur with Chelsea Ford
#147 Sales Is the Lifeblood: Bootstrapping a Beverage Brand
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How do you build a beverage brand when the margins are slim and you have no outside funding and growth depends on you?
You make sales your North Star. Every single day.
In this episode of Foodpreneur with Chelsea Ford, I chat with Ollie Puddick, founder of Innerbloom, a functional beverage brand that's gone from farmers' markets to over 300 retail doors across Australia and New Zealand in just a few years.
Ollie quit his job as a professional firefighter at the end of last year to go all-in on Innerbloom. No safety net. No investors. Just relentless focus on the one thing that keeps the lights on: sales.
And he's brutally honest about the mistakes he made along the way.
You'll hear:
💰 The one word Ollie writes at the top of his weekly plan every Monday (and why it changes everything)
📈 Why Ollie believes he can hit $1 million in online revenue in 12 months - and how online sales solved a cashflow crisis that retail created
🍫 The difficult decision he's making about SKUs right now (hint: less is more)
🏪 How Ollie lost retail stockists without even knowing it - and what he learned about chasing doors vs. servicing accounts
🛒 The meeting filter that keeps him focused on what actually drives sales
📦 How he's built a team without hiring full-time staff (and why this works for a lean beverage business)
🎯 What a $10K trip taught him about being laser-focused on the right goals
Ollie is proof that you don't need a big team, outside funding, or perfect timing to build a successful food or beverage brand. If you're bootstrapping, wearing all the hats, and trying to figure out where to focus your limited time and money - this conversation will give you clarity.
Season 15 is brought to you by Foodpreneurs Festival - a year's worth of sales and promotion opportunities under one roof.
LINKS & RESOURCES:
- Inner Bloom Coffee
- Inner Bloom Coffee on Instagram
- Your Free Pitch Plan
- Become A Foodpreneurs Festival Insider
- Chelsea Ford Co. website
Season 17 with NFTC
Season 17, out now, is brought to you by NFTC – The Natural Foods Trading Company.
If you're a growing food brand navigating that tricky middle phase—scaling up, maybe landing your first major retailer, figuring out how to buy smarter—NFTC is worth knowing about.
They're a mid-tier ingredient supplier specialising in natural wholefoods: nuts, dried fruits, herbs, spices, seeds, and more. Small enough to offer lower minimums and genuine flexibility, but backed by serious sourcing capability and a team that actually knows its range inside out.
Think of them as the ingredient partner that grows with you—not one you'll outgrow.
Check them out at nftc.com.au
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