On this episode, we’re joined by Marc Brown, Founder of ONOIN - the newly launched pre-chopped, flavored onions packed in 100% olive oil that can be used as topping, marinade, a base for a sauce, or any scenario where you want to spice up a meal.
Before launching ONOIN, Marc spent years leading R&D and commercialization at brands like Clio Snacks, Danone, and Hain Celestial, giving him a rare mix of chef-level intuition and big-CPG scale-up discipline.
With deep experience in formulation science, co-man development, and taking products from kitchen to retail shelf, Marc brings a brutally honest and highly tactical perspective on what founders actually need to know before going to market.
Marc breaks down why most early formulations are unscalable, how to avoid ingredient traps that kill margin, and what to look for in a co-packer long before you sign an MSA. He unpacks his full commercialization playbook - from securing your IP and managing redundancy to navigating the retailer-distributor-broker maze.
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Episode Highlights:
🧅 The origin story behind ONOIN and building a new pantry category
🔥 How to simplify your R&D and avoid unscalable ingredients
🏭 What founders overlook when choosing a co-packer
🔐 Securing your formulation IP and protecting the process
📦 Packaging: aesthetics vs. operational efficiency
⚙️ Redundancy, risk mitigation, and readiness for scale
📉 Commercialization pitfalls that derail early brands
🥄 How consumers are actually using ONOIN
📈 Channel strategy: DTC vs. retail vs. distributor
👀 Trends Marc is watching across food and kitchen shortcuts
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Table of Contents:
00:00:00 - Marc Brown intro
00:56:12 - Origin story and intro
02:48:01 - Where the brand sits in retail
03:52:13 - Consumer education
05:12:05 - How Marc is using ONOIN
06:37:17 - R&D and formulation
10:03:21 - Nailing down a copacker
12:11:27 - Brand identity and packaging design
16:03:02 - Copacker evaluation process
21:01:13 - Redundancy
23:13:14 - Securing formulation IP
24:30:24 - Commercialization
30:03:07 - Scalable ingredients
32:30:25 - Packaging design: aesthetics vs efficiency
35:12:11 - Copacker KPIs
37:12:04 - Learning lessons
39:22:16 - Trends Marc is watching
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Links:
ONOIN – https://www.eatonoin.com
Follow Marc on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-brown-41500546/
Follow me on LinkedIn – https://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.
