8 Restaurants and Millions in CPG Retail Sales | Bryn Jones, Huse

On this episode, we’re joined by Bryn Jones, the VP of Marketing & Retail at Huse Culinary, 123-year-old company with 8 restaurants in Indy and millions in CPG retail sales across the U.S.While most guests enjoy St. Elmo for its legendary shrimp cocktail, Bryn has transformed the brand into a multi-category CPG powerhouse with sauces, spices, and spirits sold in over 3,000 stores nationwide. Bryn built the CPG division from the ground up.Bryn shares the ulcer-inducing R&D stories behind his most successful launches, how they 10x’d their year 1 forecast, and the unique advantage of owning bars and restaurants as a CPG brand.—---------------Episode Highlights:🍤 The origin of St. Elmo’s iconic cocktail sauce📈 How a restaurant brand became a CPG growth engine🧠 Bryn, the “intrapreneur”🧪 Formulation stories and co-packer headaches🥃 How they built a spirits line from in-house bar recipes🛒 How to use restaurant data to pitch retail buyers💰 The spirits SKU that 10x’d its year-one forecast📦 Category strategy and GTM lessons🧊 Managing refrigerated, shelf-stable, and alcohol supply chains🚀 Trial is everything📊 Bryn’s perspective on category trends and innovation—---------------Table of Contents:00:00:00 – Huse origin story and portfolio04:18:11 – Expanding from 8 restaurants into selling millions of units in CPG05:55:28 – Bryn, the "intrapreneur"07:46:13 – How Bryn splits his time between 8 restaurants and the CPG division09:32:09 – Shrimp cocktail sauce, spices, then spirits + the difficulties of CPG13:39:20 – Formulation and R&D, getting an ulcer or two16:24:00 – Standing out in competitive categories like sauces and spices18:42:09 – Spirits formulation process, leveraging Huse bars and their expert team21:39:06 – The spirits SKU that 10x’d the year 1 forecast24:13:16 – Leveraging restaurant and bar data for CPG production innovation27:40:28 – Using restaurant/bar data to pitch retailers (or not)30:23:18 – The foodservice and CPG flywheel33:00:22 – How they 10x’d the year 1 forecast34:43:15 – CPG retail go-to-market recommendations36:55:08 – Catering to multiple buyer groups and retail stakeholders39:57:21 – Trial is the north star44:46:27 – Trends/brands Bryn is tracking—---------------Links:Huse Culinary – https://www.huseculinary.comFollow Bryn on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/1brynjones/ Follow me on LinkedIn – Ahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out KitPrint.Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes.Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.