The Cohort

BeyondCPG, New York's mission-focused accelerator for early-stage consumer packaged goods brands, has named the five companies selected for Track 7 of its growth program. The cohort — spanning food, beverage, and supplement categories — kicked off in Manhattan this month and represents the accelerator's seventh consecutive class since launch. The program is powered by BeyondBrands, the operator-led collective co-founded by serial CPG entrepreneurs Eric Schnell and Marci Zaroff.

The five brands entering Track 7 are Batch Balanced, Cabu Latte, Engineered Nutrition, Goldholly, and Underdog. Each was selected from a nationwide applicant pool, with BeyondCPG positioning the cohort as reflective of broader momentum in the conscious-consumer segment — brands built around mission-driven positioning that increasingly resonates across the natural/specialty channel and, increasingly, in conventional grocery.

The Curriculum

The 12-week, in-person program delivers a structured curriculum that mirrors the operational and commercial challenges brands face at the shelf. Modules cover channel strategy, supply chain, branding, investment strategy, legal foundations, marketing, and pitch presentation — disciplines that are critical for early-stage founders navigating slotting conversations, planogram placement, and the velocity expectations set by retail buyers. The program's operator-led mentorship model is designed to compress the learning curve that typically separates promising emerging brands from those ready to scale distribution and attract institutional capital.

"As a seven-time CPG founder, my passion runs deep in supporting our mission of helping founders scale smarter with real-world playbooks, investor-ready strategies, and operator-led mentorship," said Eric Schnell, Co-Founder and Executive Director at BeyondCPG.

Track 7 closes with a Showcase Pitch Event in January 2027, where founders will present to mission-aligned investors, retailers, and industry leaders — a format designed to open doors to both capital and distribution conversations simultaneously.

Sponsor Roster

The program draws on a sponsor ecosystem with meaningful reach into the data and retail infrastructure that early-stage brands need most. NielsenIQ's participation is particularly notable, giving cohort members potential exposure to scan data and syndicated data resources that typically require significant spend for brands without established retail footprints. Other sponsors include ePac Flexible Packaging, Wayflyer, Withum, ForceBrands, and Naturally New York, among others — a mix of legal, financial, packaging, and talent partners oriented toward the growth stage.

For brands attempting to break through in a crowded natural/specialty channel — where buyer attention is finite, TDP gains are hard-won, and velocity benchmarks can make or break a reset conversation — access to NielsenIQ data and legal counsel from firms like Polsinelli and Giannuzzi Lewendon represents tangible commercial value beyond the mentorship itself. Emerging CPG brands navigating these challenges can also find relevant coverage in /category/natural-specialty and /category/emerging-brands on this site.

BeyondCPG is accepting applications from brands interested in future tracks, and sponsorship and mentorship inquiries are open at BeyondCPG.org.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.