FoodOps
FoodOps is a US-based boutique CPG consulting firm (founded 2016) that delivers operations, food-science, and commercialization services to small and growth-stage food and beverage brands via productized Boost, Catalyst, and Flywheel service tiers and modular support for investors and co-manufacturers.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersCulver City, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What FoodOps does
FoodOps is a US-based boutique management and operations consulting firm founded in 2016 that serves small and growth-stage consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies. The firm delivers human-led professional services across the CPG lifecycle — from cottage-scale product coaching and food-science formulation, through co-manufacturer search and commercialization, to ongoing fractional-COO engagements for established brands. The productized service portfolio is organized into three core tiers (Boost for cottage CPG brands under $500K revenue, Catalyst for turnkey commercialization, and Flywheel for fractional-COO work) supplemented by modular service lines targeting investors, co-manufacturers, and nonprofits. The underlying technology is intentionally light: FoodOps does not sell a software platform, relying instead on customized Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) frameworks, modified project-management tools, and a Google-Forms-based trade-show CRM, with the firm's value concentrated in senior practitioner expertise rather than automation. FoodOps monetizes primarily through recurring monthly subscriptions for fractional-COO/coaching work and project-based or milestone-driven fees for discrete commercialization, formulation, and supply-chain engagements, with pricing scoped to each client and not publicly disclosed. The firm is privately held, founder-owned, and bootstrapped (no external institutional funding disclosed), with a small core team augmented by a curated extended network of food scientists, quality experts, engineering associates, a fractional CFO, and marketing/sales consultants, primarily anchored in the Minneapolis and Los Angeles CPG ecosystems.
FoodOps firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- FoodOps
- Legal name
- FoodOps LLC
- Website
- https://foodopsllc.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- FoodOps is a US-based boutique CPG consulting firm (founded 2016) that delivers operations, food-science, and commercialization services to small and growth-stage food and beverage brands via productized Boost, Catalyst, and Flywheel service tiers and modular support for investors and co-manufacturers.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
FoodOps industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Management Consulting
- akta.pro primary industry
- Better-for-You / Functional Snacks (Low Sugar, Keto, Probiotic, Fortified) (CRADABAM)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Baking & Dessert Mixes (Brownie, Cookie Mixes, Frosting) (CRADABAN)
Keywords
Where FoodOps is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Culver City
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
FoodOps business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Fractional COO / Consulting Retainers: Ongoing retainer engagements where FoodOps embeds as a client's fractional operations team over multi-year periods (e.g., 3+ years). Revenue is recurring on a subscription/contract basis, providing S&OP management, supply chain oversight, and operational leadership.
- Project-Based Consulting (Commercialization): One-time or milestone-based fees for discrete engagements such as co-manufacturer search and onboarding, product commercialization, plant trials, formulation support, and CAPEX assessments.
- Cottage Business Coaching (Boost Program): Structured coaching engagement with bi-weekly meetings for small CPG brands, covering formulation, food safety, specification development, shelf life testing, and ingredient/packaging sourcing. Operates on a fixed-scope or retainer model.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Boost: Cottage CPG Business Coaching — affordable touchpoints for early-stage brands with less than $500K in revenue. |
| Subscription | Monthly | Flywheel: Fractional COO — weekly engagement for established CPG brands with a dedicated project manager and full S&OP build. |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Catalyst: Turnkey Commercialization — end-to-end development and launch support for innovators and visionaries. |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels5 records
FoodOps product offering
Product offeringCore offering
FoodOps is a consulting firm that provides operational support, commercialization services, and fractional COO engagements to consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, with a particular focus on the food and beverage industry. Its core offerings include three service tiers: Boost (cottage CPG coaching for brands under $500K revenue), Catalyst (turnkey product commercialization for innovators), and Flywheel (fractional COO services for established CPG brands), supported by modular specialty services covering investment groups, manufacturers, nonprofits, strategy, development, and operations.
Product overview
FoodOps is a consulting services company offering tiered operational support for CPG companies at different growth stages. The portfolio consists of three main service tiers: Boost (entry-level coaching for cottage businesses under $500K revenue), Catalyst (turnkey commercialization for launch-ready brands), and Flywheel (fractional COO for established CPG brands). These core tiers are supported by modular specialty services covering Investment Groups, Manufacturers, Nonprofits, Strategy, Development, Commercialization, and Operations. Together, the services address the full lifecycle from startup through scale, with human expert consultants providing project management, food science, quality assurance, and operational execution rather than a software platform.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Boost Affordable coaching and touchpoints for cottage CPG businesses with less than $500,000 in revenue. Provides formulation consultation, manufacturing optimization, food safety consulting, specification development, and team mentorship for early-stage food and beverage brands.
- Catalyst Turnkey commercialization services for innovators and visionaries needing execution support. Includes co-manufacturer partnering, formula professionalization, sales strategy validation, material sourcing, and first production run support.
- Flywheel Fractional COO services for established CPG brands. Provides custom Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), supply chain management, co-packer relationships, production scheduling, and ongoing technical support on a multi-year engagement basis.
- Investment Groups Services Operations optimization for portfolio companies, strategic M&A support, operations and food safety due diligence, feasibility studies, and capital project management for investment groups.
- Manufacturers Services Food safety and quality systems implementation, certification achievement (SQF, Organic, Halal), throughput optimization, KPI implementation, and business development support for food manufacturers.
- Nonprofits Services Facility design and layout consultations, operational and financial modeling, pre-design and pre-engineering activities, and CPG activation for agricultural groups and nonprofits.
- Strategy Services Business origination, brand positioning, model/concept review, competitive benchmarking, interim COO or CFO, stage gate implementation, product pipeline, due diligence, and investor network support.
- Development Services Benchtop formulation, product development, formulate to target, feasibility studies, process design, nutritional optimization, sensory profile testing, plant trial support, nutrition labels, specification creation, and shelf life testing.
- Commercialization Services Launch planning, product optimization, production start and scale, SOP development, co-man search and diligence, certification and compliance, product quality manual, shelf-life studies, and regulatory guidance.
- Operations Services Sales and Operations Plan (S&OP), procurement strategy, raw material sourcing, supply chain management, COGS improvement, 3PL management, production scheduling, process optimization, and recall plan development.
Quantifiable outcome
- Increased plant productivity by 3X while reducing staffing from 2 shifts to 1 shift (client testimonial)
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use FoodOps
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles6 records
FoodOps technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
FoodOps partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Food Works GroupcoreFoodOps partners with Food Works Group for co-manufacturing space assessment and operational layout projects. The two firms conducted joint site visits to a client's shared-use kitchen to evaluate building layout, material flow, and GMP compliance, recommending building repurposing for better operational efficiency.
- Naturally MinnesotacoreFoodOps is a member and active participant in Naturally Minnesota, the premier Minnesota food industry community organization. John Castillo is a founding board member. FoodOps participates in monthly community days, founder forums, and the annual Pitch Slam. Naturally Minnesota leads Food. Ag. Ideas Week (8th year), which FoodOps attends annually.
- Partner SlateminorPartner Slate is listed as a friend and partner on the FoodOps Connections page, suggesting a referral or network relationship within the CPG/small business ecosystem.
- Regenerative AllianceminorListed as a friend and partner on the FoodOps Connections page. Regenerative Alliance likely focuses on regenerative agriculture and sustainable food systems, aligning with FoodOps' interest in alternative proteins and cannabis-adjacent categories.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
FoodOps competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- FoodMinds: Food and nutrition industry strategy consulting firm providing strategic advisory, communications, and scientific services to food, beverage, and nutrition companies; comparable multi-disciplinary service portfolio and target client base to FoodOps.
- Sterling-Rice Group: Boulder-based food and CPG brand strategy and innovation consulting firm serving similar emerging and established CPG clients; offers brand strategy, innovation, and consumer insight services that complement FoodOps' operational offering within the same target market.
- BevSource: Beverage industry operations and consulting firm providing formulation, co-packing, and commercialization services to beverage brands; FoodOps Beverage Specialist Adam Smith previously held roles at BevSource, demonstrating overlapping talent pool and service model to the same beverage CPG client base.
- The Food Practice: Food and CPG consulting firm providing strategy, innovation, and commercialization services to consumer brands; comparable target market of food/CPG companies and overlapping fractional/consulting service model with FoodOps' Boost, Flywheel, and Catalyst tiers.
- BevForce: Beverage industry consulting and talent services firm focused on beverage alcohol and non-alcohol sectors; provides operational and strategic support comparable to FoodOps' beverage client work with Andrew Zimmern's Passport Hospitality, brewing clients, and THC beverage startups.
- Food Works Group: Food industry consulting firm specializing in co-manufacturing space assessment and operational layout; active strategic partner of FoodOps for joint site visits and shared-use kitchen projects, with directly overlapping service categories and client base.
Broad incumbents
- Land O'Lakes: Major food and agricultural cooperative with extensive operations and ingredient capabilities; represents the broad incumbent food industry player whose internal teams, co-manufacturer networks, and supplier relationships intersect directly with FoodOps' service market.
- Cargill: Global food, agriculture, and ingredient conglomerate with deep CPG operations expertise and ingredient supply capabilities; serves as both potential competitor and ecosystem partner to FoodOps, with multiple team alumni (including Food Science Advisor Craig Vanderwaal) having worked at Cargill.
- General Mills: Major CPG incumbent with extensive internal operations and R&D capabilities; FoodOps Food Science Advisor Craig Vanderwaal developed Totino's pizza and Chex Mix at General Mills, illustrating the pedigree pipeline and the type of large CPG whose internal teams may displace external consulting over time.
Emerging players
- Wonder Group: Food startup studio and brand incubator operating across multiple CPG categories; intersects with FoodOps' Catalyst commercialization services for CPG innovators and represents an emerging alternative to traditional consulting for new brand launches.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
FoodOps social profiles
Digital presenceFoodOps financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
FoodOps leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles7 records
FoodOps funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
FoodOps M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about FoodOps
What does FoodOps do?
FoodOps is a consulting firm that provides operational support, commercialization services, and fractional COO engagements to consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, with a particular focus on the food and beverage industry. Its core offerings include three service tiers: Boost (cottage CPG coaching for brands under $500K revenue), Catalyst (turnkey product commercialization for innovators), and Flywheel (fractional COO services for established CPG brands), supported by modular specialty services covering investment groups, manufacturers, nonprofits, strategy, development, and operations.
Is FoodOps a public or private company?
FoodOps is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was FoodOps founded?
FoodOps was founded in 2016. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is FoodOps based?
FoodOps is headquartered in Culver City, United States, in the North America region.
How does FoodOps make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Fractional COO / Consulting Retainers are the primary driver. The others are project-Based Consulting (Commercialization) and cottage Business Coaching (Boost Program).
Who are FoodOps's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are FoodMinds, Sterling-Rice Group, BevSource, The Food Practice, BevForce and Food Works Group. Broad incumbents are Land O'Lakes, Cargill and General Mills. Wonder Group is listed as an emerging player.
Does FoodOps have an API?
No public API is recorded for FoodOps.
What industry is FoodOps in?
FoodOps's product category is Management Consulting. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRADABAM, Better-for-You / Functional Snacks (Low Sugar, Keto, Probiotic, Fortified), with a secondary code of CRADABAN, Baking & Dessert Mixes (Brownie, Cookie Mixes, Frosting).