Ep 6: Your Retail Data Says You're In Stock. Your Shelf Tells a Different Story

Courtney Clark
VP of Sales, Brewt's
EPISODE #6
Brewt's VP of Sales Courtney Clark on why your retail data report can say you're in stock while the shelf tells a completely different story.
30 min
May 19, 2026
Podcast episode image
Episode Description

Courtney Clark is VP of Sales at Brewt's, a premium cocktail mixer brand that grew from Michigan farmers markets to over a thousand Walmart doors and twelve Kroger regions. She joined as employee number one with no sales team, no field reps, and no reliable way to know what was happening at the shelf after product shipped.

In this episode of Know Thy Shelf, Courtney is candid about what standard retail data tools show, what they miss, and what it costs when a buyer asks for velocity data before you've confirmed your product is even on the shelf. Essential listening for any founder who has trusted a data report and been burned.

Key Insights & Quotes
“I didn’t want people to know it was mine. I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me.”
“If we already have a state where we have a sound DSD model, sure, we'll take it on. But if we aren't in that state yet and it isn't proven that this retailer is going to make a huge difference for our brand, we're not expanding states that don't make sense for us just to get a hundred new points of distribution"
About the Guest
Courtney Clark
VP of Sales, Brewt's

Courtney Clark is VP of Sales at Brewt's, a woman-owned premium cocktail mixer brand that grew from Michigan farmers markets to over a thousand Walmart doors and twelve Kroger regions. She joined as employee number one with no sales team, no field reps, and no reliable way to see what was happening at the shelf once product shipped. Before stepping into the early-stage world, Courtney spent her career scaling established beverage brands, rising from field sales representative to field sales manager at Mike's Hard Lemonade under Mark Anthony Brands, then leading Pacific Northwest distribution and serving as Sales Director at Spindrift.

A former student-athlete at the University of Kentucky, she is based in Bend, Oregon.

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Expert Insights. vs "Field Notes"