Consumer Products

Determining the road best taken.

There are few industry sectors more competitive or more volatile than the consumer products space. In food manufacturing, you are navigating increasingly tough federal regulations and newly funded competitors. In the cosmetic space, you serve the ever-changing landscape of category managers, who change often in major retailers. In the protein space, there is huge pricing volatility and large capital investment requirements. And for each of these there are questions of strategy:

Do you launch a brand or go private label?
Distribute through big box, specialty stores, or direct-to-consumer?
What about online marketplaces?
And where will you manufacture your goods?

When each variable impacts the others, the need for seasoned advice becomes clear.

That’s the role FortéOne plays. Our team members understand the interconnected intricacies of consumer goods because they’ve been there themselves. In the C-suite, improving the operations, winning new accounts, and negotiating with the Big Box stores. In the thick of the competition. For years. Working with your team, they’ll help you carve a strategic path to growth and profits—rooted in every one of our Six Factors for Sustainable Success.

A brief inventory of the assistance we’ve provided to past clients:

Brand development, including private label brands for most major retailers in the US
Strengthen relationships with key retailers and suppliers
Build true “cost to serve” models that inform pricing strategies and client profitability
Develop pricing strategies that clear the market and increase profits
Grow existing and new markets, including regional and national grocery, drug, convenience, big box, and other both domestic and international
Engage a stage-gate process to refine product development operations with a focus on maximizing profitability and manufacturing capacity
Strengthen SIOP (sales, inventory, and operations planning) processes to maximize margins
Assess product profitability and perform SKU rationalization at both plant and firm-wide levels
Implement Six Sigma principles, improve throughput using the theory of constraints, conduct and lead Kaizen events, and employ other efficiency improvement and waste reduction initiatives
Process and production line analysis and optimization

A few examples of the categories we serve.

FortéOne has helped consumer-facing firms in virtually every corner of the industry, including:

Food & Beverage
Restaurant & Retail
Cosmetics & Personal Care
Household Goods & Staples
Consumer Durables

If you’re unsure if your company fits neatly into one of these categories, worry not. Chances are that we have worked with someone in your space.

A few words from Consumer Products clients.

“The FortéOne team was very professional and highly experienced. They worked closely with me and our entire Klement's management team. Together, we improved nearly every part of our company - Finance, Operations, Quality Assurance, Sales, Marketing, IT Systems and more.”

John Klement, CEO, $85MM Protein Manufacturer

“You always wonder if they can do the job. FortéOne provided the experience and manpower to get us ready to sell. It has been an extremely positive experience … I have a very high regard for their ability and their knowledge. If I have another company, I will use them again.”

Ed Zinke, Owner, $250MM Manufacturing Company

Recent Consumer Products Success Stories

$70MM National Housewares Distributor (Private)

Entrepreneur experiencing growing pains, including $300K in penalties from online vendors, declining profits, poor order fill rates, and mounting warehouse costs. We implemented changes throughout the firm: reorganized into three business units, new SIOP processes, new product profit reporting, product stage-gate for new and retiring products, as well as replacing the CFO, IT, and warehouse staff. $250k in penalties were eliminated, growth continued, and profits increased to 6-8% levels.

$20MM National Health & Fitness Products Distributor (Private Equity)

PE firm had just taken a control position, and needed assurance that their capital was being deployed wisely. We assumed COO role and worked with the CFO and CEO to install processes and KPIs to promote and monitor performance. In stock inventory for large clients, including Wal-Mart and Dicks, increased from 52% to 98%. Working capital decreased. Firm was taken to market at the end of our engagement.

$110MM National Homegoods Importer and Distributor (Private Equity)

PE firm realized the firm, though profitable, was ignoring a huge online opportunity for their 20,000 SKUs. We developed a plan for reorganizing the sales team, changing account management, adding Sales Leadership, and setting performance goals. These recommendations were adopted; firm is on track to add more than $10MM in online revenue.

$40MM National Food & Consumables Distributor (Private)

Multilevel marketer struggling with annual losses from reduced revenues and high internal costs. Prepared a company wide growth/turnaround plan which was adopted by the firm. Reduced staff and other expenses by $9MM annually, changed consultant promotional programs, raised prices on 26 items (first time in history), and developed a cash flow/profit monitoring tool used by all managers. Firm on track to make money in 2017.