Building Better-for-You Products That Actually Taste Good: The WHIMS Playbook for Premium CPG
Jesse Barruch cracked the code that stumps most better-for-you brands: creating a 1-gram sugar chocolate that actually tastes like the original. As co-founder of WHIMS, he's proven that healthy alternatives don't have to sacrifice on flavor—but getting there requires systematic operational excellence.
In this episode, Jesse breaks down the frameworks he's developed to balance taste, health benefits, and manufacturing reality while building a premium CPG brand. You'll get actionable insights for: Product Development - His systematic approach to formulation when balancing competing constraints like taste, nutrition, cost, and shelf life Manufacturing Partnerships - How to evaluate and manage co-manufacturers for complex specialty products Ingredient Sourcing - Framework for balancing cost, functionality, and supply chain reliability with specialty ingredients Retail Strategy - His approach to channel selection and retailer relationships in the premium better-for-you space Unit Economics - Key financial metrics for managing premium ingredients and specialized manufacturing costs Consumer Education - Systematic approach to overcoming skepticism and converting people to better-for-you alternatives
Whether you're developing better-for-you products or just want to understand how to systematically innovate in established categories, Jesse's frameworks will help you build products customers actually want to switch to. Perfect for: CPG founders, product developers, anyone building premium consumer brands
Guest: Jesse Barruch - Co-Founder, WHIMS Host: Samantha Rose - Managing Partner, Hologram Capital & Founder, Endless CommerceThis episode was recorded live and is part of our series on operational frameworks that drive real business results. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.
What is Commerce is Chaos?
Look, we've all heard the polished founder story—the perfect pitch, the seamless scale, the overnight success. But what about the time you oversold by 100K units? Or when your 'seamless' integration crashed right before Black Friday?
Host Samantha Rose has been there—from founding her first consumer business, GIR, managing fulfillment and industrial design for your favorite brands, or acquiring distressed brands on her own.
Welcome to Commerce is Chaos, the podcast for founders who knows that building a real business is beautifully, chaotically messy.
