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.
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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
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Table of Contents:
00:00:00 – Huse origin story and portfolio
04:18:11 – Expanding from 8 restaurants into selling millions of units in CPG
05:55:28 – Bryn, the "intrapreneur"
07:46:13 – How Bryn splits his time between 8 restaurants and the CPG division
09:32:09 – Shrimp cocktail sauce, spices, then spirits + the difficulties of CPG
13:39:20 – Formulation and R&D, getting an ulcer or two
16:24:00 – Standing out in competitive categories like sauces and spices
18:42:09 – Spirits formulation process, leveraging Huse bars and their expert team
21:39:06 – The spirits SKU that 10x’d the year 1 forecast
24:13:16 – Leveraging restaurant and bar data for CPG production innovation
27:40:28 – Using restaurant/bar data to pitch retailers (or not)
30:23:18 – The foodservice and CPG flywheel
33:00:22 – How they 10x’d the year 1 forecast
34:43:15 – CPG retail go-to-market recommendations
36:55:08 – Catering to multiple buyer groups and retail stakeholders
39:57:21 – Trial is the north star
44:46:27 – Trends/brands Bryn is tracking
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Links:
Huse Culinary – https://www.huseculinary.com
Follow Bryn on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/1brynjones/
Follow me on LinkedIn – Ahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/
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