Business coach · FMCG, food and beverage

Grow a food brand
the way the big brands do.

Coaching for owners of food, beverage and consumer-goods brands who want more shelf, more velocity and healthier margins, without betting the business on a national launch too early.

Book a free 30-minute call

Where food brands get stuck

  • Chasing new stockists before proving sales per store
  • Promotions that move volume but quietly eat the margin
  • Retailer deductions and trade spend nobody has fully mapped
  • Packaging designed for the founder, not for a shopper with three seconds
  • A great product that too few people know exists

What we work on

  • Your price waterfall, from shelf price to profit per unit
  • A velocity story that wins the next ranging conversation
  • Distinctive brand assets that make you easy to find and choose
  • A channel path: prove, validate, expand, then scale
  • Promotions measured on incremental sales, not volume

Relevant experience

From global brands to the local shelf

Kevin D'Ambros-Smith worked on brands such as General Mills, Nestlé, Colgate, Unilever, Heineken and Lion at DDB, Ogilvy and Saatchi and Saatchi, and launched Woolworths' original OneCard loyalty programme. He later founded an online grocery store, and has coached food and beverage founders one-on-one and through The Icehouse, including a MahiTahi and Colab programme with 11 food and beverage companies.

What food and beverage owners say

"Kevin, you distilled business, marketing and sales strategy into powerful simple concepts and actions with real life stories of your start-up business and corporate life."

Nikki, MahiTahi and Colab

"Make tripling the size of my business go from seeming impossible to really possible."

Lina, Good Gravy

"Realistic. Positive thinking. Achievable goals. Useful feedback."

Madeleine Colombie, Paneton Bakery

FMCG coaching: questions answered

Should I go national before I have strong sales per store?

Usually not. Proving velocity in a smaller set of stores first gives you the story buyers want and protects your cash. We work out the right next step for your brand.

Do you work with direct-to-consumer and online food brands?

Yes. Online, markets, specialty retail and grocery each need a different playbook, and many brands use several at once.

Is coaching co-funding available?

Possibly. Simple-Growth offers services that are registered with the Management Capability Development Fund. Funding is decided by your Regional Business Partner Growth Advisor and is not guaranteed.

Ready for your next ranging conversation?

Thirty minutes to find the one thing holding your brand back.

Book a free 30-minute call