R&D Radio: Rachel Zemser, Founder of A La Carte Connections

The Startup CPG Podcast

Startup CPG

Startup, Food, Business, Beverage, Cpg, Entrepreneurship

4.9 • 642 Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2026

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this debut episode of R&D Radio, a series hosted by Adam Yee, Adam sits down with Rachel Zemser, founder of A La Carte Connections. With 30+ years in the field and hundreds of products brought to market, Rachel shares the advice that stops most entrepreneurs in their tracks: before you spend a dime on R&D, find your co packer.

Rachel explains why the manufacturing process represents 60% of what you're actually building, walks through how to use platforms like Keychain and PartnerSlate to start that search, and shares the real story of bringing Island Vibe — musician Pretty Kenny's cocktail mixer — from kitchen concept to award-winning pasteurized beverage. She and Adam also dig into the sweetener landscape: why allulose and erythritol are letting formulators down on functionality, why small amounts of real sugar are quietly making a comeback, and date sugar's surprising FDA classification.

Listen in as they discuss:

Why co packer conversations should come before any R&D
How having a food scientist gets you taken seriously by manufacturers
The Island Vibe cocktail mixer story: concept to production run
Co packer negotiating dynamics — and why founders need to bend more than they think
The "cleanish label" trend: small amounts of real sugar returning for functionality
Why allulose won't crystallize and erythritol won't brown
Date sugar's status as a non-added sugar under current FDA guidance

Episode Links:

Rachel Zemser - Food Science Industry Consultant, A La Carte Connections
🔗 Website: www.alacartconnections.com
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/culinologist/

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 (35K+ members and growing!)
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Visit host Adam'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	I always tell entrepreneurs when they come to me, don't start working on your R&D right away.
0:15.9	I'm like, the first thing you need to do is find a co-packer.
0:18.9	Stop your R&D process.
0:24.3	Stop messing around in a lab and playing and fiddling with it or in your kitchen or wherever you're doing it in your garage. I'm like, stop. You've just
0:29.2	wasted two years of your time. I'm like, stop it. Go find a co-packer first. Because if you don't
0:35.7	know who's going to make it and how they're going to make it,
0:38.5	you're wasting your time. Especially, I mean, there's some exceptions, but really the first thing
0:44.3	you need to do, especially if you're making something unique or special or different, is
0:48.6	make sure there's someone out there who can actually make this product for you.
0:58.0	Hey, everyone. This is Adam Yee. Food scientists and podcast hosts of Start of CPD's new podcast section R&D Radio, where you interview part developers and what they do
1:04.0	and how they can help you build your CPG business.
1:07.0	Today's guest is my friend Rachel Zemzer, who heads a la carte connections, which helps
1:12.0	startups and brands bring food ideas to life, from concept to market.
1:16.4	Rachel is a certified food and culinary scientists, and her services offer in-lab or remote
1:21.2	product development for any food type anywhere, flexible, creative, and science-driven innovation
1:26.8	you can trust. I've known Rachel for a while,
1:30.0	and she is a wealth of knowledge. We dive into why the all-natural trend is making product
1:35.0	stability more challenging than ever, and why she believes the industry is moving towards a cleanish
1:40.4	label that balances health with actual shelf life. Rachel also breaks down the realities of working with co-packers,
1:47.2	explaining why founders need to stop looking for a, quote, partner,
1:50.3	and start acting like professional customers to get their products made.
1:53.7	Enjoy this episode with Rachel Zemzer.
	...

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