R&D Radio: Product Development and 40+ Years of CPG Industry Experience
In this episode of R&D RADIO, host and food scientist Adam Yee sits down with Bob Pankey, owner of Castlewood Food Innovation, to talk about what it takes to turn a product concept into something that survives manufacturing, retail, and real consumers.
Bob has spent more than 40 years in food, including 14 years helping build Hot Pockets into the powerhouse it became. He has worked on canned chili and stew, corn dogs, waffles, baby food, confections, compound butters, and most recently protein popcorn, and for the past six years he has consulted for emerging and growing CPG brands through Castlewood Food Innovation. Many of his current clients found him through Startup CPG’s Product Developer Database.
Adam and Bob dig into why simple formulas scale best, how to coach founders through the hard truths about cost and timing, when it makes sense to skip retail and sell direct, and what separates the product developers clients choose. They also cover protein and fiber trends, the whey supply crunch, the psychology of ingredients like hemp, and Bob’s lessons from Hot Pockets about how consumers really use products.
Listen in as they discuss:
- Why the simplest formula is the one that survives the jump from benchtop to manufacturing
- How Bob coaches founders on whether consumers want what they are offering, and why a change in format can matter as much as the recipe
- Why Bob tells clients not to expect to make money in the first year or two
- When to skip retail and start direct to consumer, including a client who got 12 inquiries in the first week of her website
- How dropping gluten-free guardrails changed a protein and fiber cereal project
- Why speed of response and momentum are a product developer’s best differentiators
- How batter experience from corn dogs transferred to waffles, and why waffle batter has a short working life
- Why protein popcorn is booming, and how a tight whey supply is pushing developers toward other proteins
- Why parents happily ate a hemp protein product but hesitated to serve it to their kids, and why retailers said they were not ready for hemp
- What Hot Pockets taught Bob: consumers say they want more meat, but choose more cheese when they taste both
Browse the free Product Developer Database: Startup CPG’s database of hundreds of formulators and product development agencies is free on startupcpg.com under the Resources page.
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Episode Links:
- Bob Pankey LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bob-pankey-335aa218
- Castlewood Food Innovation LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/castlewood-food-innovation
- Contact Bob directly: bob.pankey@outlook.com
Don’t forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit www.startupcpg.com.
Show Links:
- Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)
- Join the Startup CPG Slack community (40K+ members and growing!)
- Follow @startupcpg
- Visit host Adam’s LinkedIn
- Questions or comments about the episode? Email podcast@startupcpg.com
- Episode music by Super Fantastics
