An Operating & Advisory Firm for Food and Consumer Products

Operating advisory for companies moving from promise to performance.

Benchrock Advisors is an operating and advisory firm for food and consumer products companies. Operating advisory, channel relationships, and the discipline that turns ambition into performance.

Operating & Advisory Firm for Food and Consumer Products

We work directly inside the operating decisions that determine outcomes for food and consumer products companies. Channel readiness, distribution coordination, margin discipline, and the cadence of execution that follows.

Each engagement is scoped to what the situation calls for. Not to a packaged offering.

Most food and consumer products companies do not fail at strategy. They fail in execution. In the operational decisions made under market pressure, where a buyer relationship, a margin structure, or a production decision can determine whether the next twelve months produce traction or noise.

I · What We Do

Built for the operating decisions that determine outcomes.

Benchrock Advisors supports food and consumer products companies. Emerging and growth-stage brands, manufacturers, distributors, agricultural operators, and foodservice businesses. The sponsors, investors, and strategic stakeholders working alongside them. International companies entering the US market and US companies expanding abroad.

The work sits inside the decisions that actually determine outcomes: headquarter relationships, broker architecture, category review preparation, distributor coordination, pricing and margin structure, promotional planning, marketplace discipline, and the operating cadence that turns a good product into commercial traction.

Built to operate effectively across founder-led and institutionally backed environments.

Headquarter Sales (Retail and Foodservice)

Buyer-facing support across natural, conventional, specialty, mainstream retail, foodservice, and emerging retail channels. Broker selection, broker management, and the in-house versus brokered sales decisions that determine whether distribution is creating leverage or absorbing margin.

Category Review

Positioning, deck preparation, sample logistics, and the questions buyers ask before they ask them.

Margin Discipline and Cost Accounting

Wholesale pricing, MAP, distributor margins, and shelf price aligned to retailer expectations. SKU-level cost accounting, labor and material cost optimization, and the cost discipline that protects margin through scale.

Promotional Planning and Trade Spending

Trade calendars built retailer-by-retailer to drive velocity without giving away margin. Promotional ROI analysis, trade spending forecasting, and the discipline that prevents promotional drag on the P&L.

Financial Operations

CFO and Controller-level financial leadership for emerging and growth-stage companies. Financial systems implementation, cash flow analysis, gross margin discipline, and the reporting infrastructure that supports scaling.

Manufacturing Operations

Plant-level cost accounting, processing efficiencies, regulatory compliance, and the operational discipline that turns manufacturing into a competitive advantage rather than a constraint.

US Market Entry and International Expansion

Importer selection, UPC and FDA compliance, tariff navigation, and the 3PL versus importer decisions for international brands entering the US. International expansion support for US brands moving into greater Asia and Australia, including broker selection and channel development across foodservice and retail.

Ecommerce & Marketplace

Amazon and Walmart marketplace discipline, MAP enforcement, and the partnerships that let a company show up consistently online without losing margin to unauthorized resellers.

Transaction & Growth Readiness

Operational assessment, diligence support, transaction preparedness, and post-engagement operating support where appropriate.

Founder Counsel

Direct perspective in the moments between meetings, rounds, retailers, and operational decisions.

These are the firm's primary capability areas. Adjacent capabilities are brought in as engagements require.

II · Engagements

Three contexts. One discipline.

Each engagement is scoped to the situation. No generic packages.

Every engagement begins with a diagnostic. Broker structure, SKU-level profitability, channel fit, distribution architecture, and the operating decisions that don't get made until someone names them. The work that follows is scoped to what we find.

01 · Foundations

For early-stage companies

For companies building the structure required to move from product promise to commercial traction. The work behind the first major buyer presentation and the first orders that follow.

  • Buyer presentations & sample logistics
  • Channel selection
  • National & regional distributor setup
  • Pricing & trade structure
  • Compliance setup: UPC, FDA, GS1, importer documentation
  • Founder counsel & operating discipline
02 · Growth

For growth-stage companies

For companies with traction and the next set of scaling problems. Building the headquarter sales discipline that wins category expansion and restructuring relationships before scale exposes the gaps.

  • Headquarter sales & account management
  • Category review & expansion strategy
  • Promotional planning & trade spend
  • Operating cadence & org design
  • Pre-transaction preparation
03 · Sponsors

For sponsors and portfolio companies

For PE firms, family offices, and sponsor-backed platforms requiring sector-rooted operating judgment.

  • Operating partner mandates
  • Diligence & thesis validation
  • Post-close stabilization & integration
  • Portfolio CEO advisory
  • Sourcing & founder introductions
III · Team

Built around operating experience.

Benchrock Advisors' Senior Operators bring decades of combined experience inside food and consumer products companies. The bench spans retail and foodservice channels across mainstream, natural, specialty, and emerging categories; international and domestic market development; brokerage operations at national scale; financial operations and manufacturing; and the cross-functional execution that moves a growing company through scale.

Individual profiles below illustrate specific depth. The bench expands as engagements call for additional capability. The work is grounded in how decisions actually get made on the floor.

Aaron Badart

Senior Operator · Strategic Advisory and Cross-Border Context

Brings nearly two decades of experience at the intersection of international business, relationship-driven capital, and operating advisory. Career has spanned private equity, family offices, cross-border strategy, operational advisory, and direct business operations, partnering with founders, operators, and capital providers across global markets. International market experience includes the Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey, China, Korea, and Israel, across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Sector experience spans food, real estate, sports, consumer products, and physical performance industries, with hands-on operating leadership across businesses of varying scale. For Benchrock Advisors engagements, focus is on the strategic and capital-context work that food and consumer products companies need at inflection points where investors, sponsors, or transactional counterparties enter the picture.

Working relationships: Lower middle-market sponsors · Family offices · Founder-led and family-owned operators · Food and consumer products platforms · Cross-border trade · International capital partners

Mike Robinson

Senior Operator · Retail and Distribution

Forty years of consumer packaged goods experience focused on emerging brand development, national distribution, and brokerage operations. Currently co-founder and President of a national brokerage company representing emerging brands across natural, organic, specialty food, and health and wellness sectors.

Previously served as Corporate Vice President of Brokerage Operations at a national food brokerage representing more than three hundred manufacturers and approximately $350 million in annual sales.

Working relationships: National distributors (KEHE, UNFI) · Specialty retailers (Sprouts Farmers Market) · Natural & specialty channels · Conventional grocery · Pacific military commissary · Ecommerce launch (Amazon, Walmart.com)

Jeff Carrick

Senior Operator · Foodservice and International

Forty years in food, with management positions at Fortune 500 food companies and other notable food operators across retail and foodservice. Founder of a brokerage company in Southern California and a separate international brokerage and consulting practice supporting food sales across greater Asia and Australia, both of which remain active.

Has managed more than seventy retail and foodservice brokers over the course of a four-decade career, with active working relationships across the broker community in mainstream retail, natural and specialty channels, and foodservice.

Working relationships: Mainstream retail · Natural & specialty channels · Foodservice operators · International food markets (Asia, Australia) · Retail and foodservice broker community · Industry foodservice associations

Sandy Sanchez

Senior Operator · Financial and Manufacturing Operations

Over thirty years of financial management experience across three of the top international food corporations, with career progression from Cost Accountant through Plant Controller and Regional Controller to Chief Financial Officer. Fifteen years as Regional Controller for one corporation's Western region, including being on the initial test group that installed its SAP sales module and receiving the annual financial leadership award for sales forecasting accuracy. Experience covers budgets, forecasting, auditing, variance reporting, cost accounting, payroll, and the cross-functional management of accounting, inventory control, purchasing, and IT teams.

Compliance work spans GAAP, Sarbanes-Oxley, Robinson-Patman Act, and truth-in-labeling requirements. Current Chief Financial Officer experience with emerging and growth-stage food brands, working on cost structure, financial systems, gross margin discipline, and the financial infrastructure that supports scaling. Earlier in career, served active duty at the Pentagon in the Office of Management and Budget for the US Navy, preparing the consolidated annual budget from all bases and ships for the Secretary of the Navy to present to the Secretary of Defense.

Working relationships: Major international food and CPG manufacturers · Emerging and growth-stage food brands · Plant operations · Cost accounting · Financial systems implementation · Regulatory compliance (GAAP, Sarbanes-Oxley, Robinson-Patman) · Multi-disciplinary team management
IV · Contact

Start a conversation.

Engagements are taken selectively. Initial conversations are confidential and reviewed directly.