So You Wanna: Start a Food or Beverage Business

A Pick-Your-Path Business

By: Douglas Raggio

Narrated by: Rich Miller

The specialty food and beverage business is a thriving industry, and the barriers to entry are low: All you need is a recipe and a kitchen. It sounds simple, but launching a food or beverage company is a maze of choices and consequences.

Douglas Raggio has been there: both as a food founder and as a consultant to other successful start-ups, and he's come to learn that every choice a food founder makes has a fairly predictable outcome. In So You Wanna: Start a Food or Beverage Business, he'll help you think through the many decisions you'll make along the road from an idea to a successful company. You'll learn the ins and outs of: coming up with an exciting, profitable new product; funding your start-up; conducting market research; pricing and producing to scale; partnerships, promotions, and branding; and deciding when to keep going - and when to fold.

So You Wanna: Start a Food or Beverage Business will help you to navigate the pathways that lead to success and avoid the roads that lead to frustration (or worse). By understanding the perils and pleasures of this fast-growing industry you will be able to approach your own business with confidence, make the decisions that feel right to you...and learn to have a lot of fun along the way!

©2022 Douglas Raggio (P)2022 Ascent Audio

He knows his stuff

Great story!

I’m working on my own CPG and I can relate to all those problems. Necessary read for people thinking about founding a CPG company or if you have already some practical guidance.

Realistic and Honest

I’ve been searching for books written by experienced F&B business owners that go beyond the glossy “rags to riches” narratives. Too many jump from idea to millions in 150 pages without ever explaining how they actually did it—or what pitfalls they faced along the way.

This book, however, stands apart. It paints multiple what-if scenarios and realistic paths that founders might take, from farmers markets to shared commercial kitchens—the true altitude where most food businesses operate and grow.

The author’s experience shines through. A quick search shows he’s not only seasoned but deeply knowledgeable about funding and scaling F&B ventures. Don’t judge this book by its limited number of reviews; judge it by its substance. I wish there were more books like this—grounded, practical, and honest about what it really takes to build a food and beverage business.