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The Startup CPG Podcast

#230 - From Self-Distribution to Full-Service Distributor: Scaling Ops with Smidge Beverage and Cin7

The Startup CPG Podcast

Startup CPG

Startup, Food, Business, Beverage, Cpg, Entrepreneurship

4.9 • 642 Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Daniel Scharff sits down with Adam O'Connor, founder of Smidge Beverage—a lightly boozy 2.5% ABV vodka soda—and Josh Fischer, VP of Product at Cin7, to explore how early-stage founders can build scalable operations systems that support growth without breaking as they scale.

Adam shares his journey launching Smidge Beverage, a premium low-alcohol vodka soda brand in Arizona, starting with self-distribution before transitioning to third-party distributors. With a finance and supply chain background, Adam knew from day one that having proper systems in place—particularly inventory management—would be critical to scaling efficiently. He implemented Cin7 pre-revenue, recognizing that without an end-to-end system to track inventory, lot codes, expiration dates, and invoicing, operations would quickly become unsustainable as the business grew.

Throughout the conversation, Adam discusses the realities of self-distribution in the alcohol industry (navigating three-tier systems, building retailer relationships, delivering and merchandising products himself), why he chose to invest in inventory management before his first production run, and how systems like Cin7 allowed him to focus on growing the business rather than manually tracking ingredients and managing spreadsheets. Josh provides the Cin7 perspective on what founders need to know about inventory management, why the transition from "brand builder" to "operations economist" typically happens around the 12-month mark, and how proper systems enable better inventory forecasting, sales channel expansion, and warehouse efficiency.


Whether you're launching a CPG brand, scaling self-distribution, or wondering when to implement proper back-office systems, this conversation offers honest lessons on why getting infrastructure right early matters, how to avoid common pitfalls when implementing inventory management software, and why founders who prioritize operations alongside brand-building are better positioned for sustainable growth.


Listen in as they discuss:

  • Adam's journey: finance background in wine and spirits, launching Smidge Beverage (2.35% ABV vodka soda)
  • Implementing Cin7 inventory management pre-revenue: why systems matter from day one
  • Self-distribution realities: navigating three-tier alcohol systems and building retailer relationships
  • When to transition from self-distribution to third-party distributors
  • The three stages of CPG growth: inventory forecasting, sales expansion, operations efficiency
  • Why founders shift from "brand builder" to "operations economist" around 12 months
  • Setting up SKUs, lot codes, expiration tracking, and integrations (QuickBooks, Shopify, EDI)
  • Tips for implementation: focused onboarding, outsource accounting, learn systematically
  • Key CPG tech stack: inventory management, accounting, Shopify/EDI


Episode Links:

Cin7:
Get 50% off your first 3 months: https://bit.ly/458bcCY


Smidge Beverage: 


Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com. 

Show Links:

  • Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)
  • Join the Startup CPG Slack community (30K+ members and growing!)
  • Follow @startupcpg
  • Visit host Daniel's Linkedin 
  • Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
  • Episode music by Super Fantastics



Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Pretty much most people, when they taste it, they're surprised there's alcohol in it,

0:14.8

because we're using a super premium vodka.

0:17.9

I know everyone says that.

0:19.4

But a lot of producers use GNS, which is essentially ever-clear. We're using an 80-pe premium vodka. I know everyone says that. But a lot of producers use GNS, which is essentially

0:22.1

ever clear. We're using an 80-purd vodka. So it's like, this is vodka that you could essentially

0:27.5

drink with a mixer. So again, the number one thing people say is this is so refreshing. It all

0:34.1

starts with the purchasing. Like once you can better understand what kind of investment you need to make in your inventory

0:40.8

and what you need on the shelves for the next quarter or for the next six months,

0:44.8

that's step number one, right?

0:47.3

And then the growth, the actual sales and the building relationships with the buyers,

0:52.3

it seems to me like that's the second stage of growth.

0:57.4

Everybody, ops, ops, ops, ops, ops, ops, ops, what's up, everyone?

1:02.2

Welcome to today's podcast.

1:04.1

I am Daniel, as you can tell, I'm very excited because today's episode is all about ops.

1:09.0

Here at Startup CBG, we love these kind of topics because

1:11.8

we think it's so important for early stage founders to understand what systems could really

1:16.7

help them as they scale. Now, in the future, just get the understanding. It's really low-hanging

1:21.7

fruit and can just help all of your operations work the right way. Today we've got Adam O'Connor.

1:26.2

He's the founder of Smidge Beverage. It's a lightly boozy 2.5% ABV vodka soda that is just cruising in Arizona. But he started

1:34.3

doing self-distribution. So because of his finance background, he wanted to make sure that he

1:38.9

had inventory management taken care of. He would have a system in place so that as he scaled,

1:43.6

that's not what he had to worry about.

...

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