Bravo CPG experts tell Colorado food brands to prepare systems, hires and supply chains before scaling

Katie Han, founder and CEO of Bravo CPG, and Jeremy Brooks, the company's director of operations, told Colorado Proud webinar attendees that fast growth often exposes weak systems and that founders should plan hires, processes and supply chains before accepting large retail accounts.

The webinar opened with the Colorado Department of Agriculture moderator welcoming members and introducing the Bravo CPG guests. Han said the critical inflection point for many brands comes at roughly $5 million in revenue, when "slapping it together no longer works" and businesses need clearly defined roles, processes and reliable financial data to scale. "You really need processes, systems and a deep understanding of your financials," she said.

Han recommended the earliest specific hires be a finance lead (CFO or a junior finance manager) to "help you understand your numbers" and a hands-on operations manager to relieve founders of day-to-day execution. "Getting a really strong doer and executor in there can relieve the founders and the leadership," she said, adding that hiring a senior leader too early can duplicate duties rather than unblock work.

Brooks said founders should also prepare for how quickly growth can accelerate once a major retailer or partner signs on. "It really, really does happen quickly," he said, describing cases where first orders required thousands of cases and forced brands to strip inventory to fill a single customer. He urged brands to assess whether they can meet supply, support partners and absorb the cash float between paying manufacturers and receiving retailer payments before saying yes to a large account.

On retail operations, the speakers warned about compliance and hidden costs. Brooks highlighted advanced-shipping-notice (ASN) compliance and chargebacks as common pitfalls that can add significant, unexpected fees. Han recommended smaller case packs (ideally six units or fewer) to limit free-fill costs and noted that brands often overpay for visible packaging that does not affect purchase decisions in a back-of-store distribution environment.

When asked about technology, Han emphasized that revenue alone should not trigger an ERP purchase; complexity does. "Once the complexity…you start losing track of things and your data sources aren't clean, that's when a system can be helpful," she said, while cautioning that implementing and maintaining an ERP typically requires months of work and ongoing staff time. Brooks added that realistic ERP timelines often range 6–18 months and that post‑implementation labor can amount to a significant ongoing cost.

The discussion on co-manufacturing contrasted turnkey arrangements (buying finished goods) and tolling (paying for conversion services). Han and Brooks noted turnkey can reduce working-capital needs and procurement burden but warned brands to insist on supplier visibility and to clarify intellectual-property ownership, as some co-manufacturers keep formula or supplier sourcing opaque.

On margins, the guests urged founders to understand fully landed costs and to pursue negotiating leverage as volume grows. They identified freight, pallet optimization, raw‑material negotiations and packaging simplifications as high-impact levers and suggested lightweight supplier reviews can start early, while robust margin-improvement projects often require dedicated time or outsourced help.

When a participant asked about mentorship and market research, the speakers recommended industry resources including Naturally Colorado (Founders Forums), SKU (an accelerator with a mentor track), Startup CPG (peer forum), farmers markets for direct customer feedback and Google Trends for low-cost demand signals.

The webinar closed with contact information (bravocpg.com and LinkedIn) and a reminder of Colorado Proud's next webinar on July 21. The moderator thanked the guests and partners and ended the session.

The session provided practical, operational guidance for early and growth-stage CPG brands, repeatedly emphasizing the need to plan systems, hires and contingency in supply chains before committing to large retail opportunities.