Ep 12: What Every CPG Founder Gets Wrong About Their First National Distributor
EPISODE #12
Crunchy founder Megan Riggs on scaling from a farmers market to Whole Foods, Kroger, and Wegmans, and why distribution is not the same as execution.
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June 20, 2026
Episode Description
Megan Riggs built Crunchy, a functional sparkling water, from a Virginia Beach farmers market to shelves at Whole Foods, Kroger, and Wegmans with a small team and in-house production. In this episode of Know Thy Shelf, she gets specific about the lesson most founders learn the hard way: distribution is not execution. A signed purchase order gets your product into a warehouse. It does not get it onto the shelf, facing forward, at the right price, in the right store. Megan breaks down what a distributor will and won't do once the paperwork is signed, and what still falls squarely on the brand.
Key Insights & Quotes
“I didn’t want people to know it was mine. I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me.”
“Take your time. Go slow. Gather data. Have your loyal consumers.”
