A hit song funded a hit dessert. Matt, the founder of Hiatus Cheesecake, went from baking with his mom to serving fine dining rooms, then navigated a leap into Whole Foods and, later, Kroger’s Go Fresh & Local Accelerator. We unpack the real story behind the glossy headlines: how a single anchor restaurant paid for a commercial kitchen, how packaging and UPC readiness opened doors with distributors, and how a pandemic-era retail launch became a proving ground for operations, data, and grit.

We dig into the messy middle every CPG founder knows too well: cash flow gaps that stretch from purchase orders to 60-day terms, the pressure to choose between making it yourself or handing the recipe to a co‑packer, and the costly consequences when packaging fails at scale. Matt shares the financing stack that actually moved product—royalties, bar income, family checks, CDFIs, microloans, distributor-enabled ingredient buys, and PO financing partners—plus the vendor negotiations and constant communication that kept trust alive when delays hit. The packaging crisis forced layoffs and a hard pivot to foodservice, but it also sparked a smarter rebuild with domestic packaging and tighter supply planning.

Along the way, mentors and cohorts helped turn a product pitch into an investor pitch. A $25K win, a lean crowdfunding raise, and cleaner financials attracted advisors ready to invest in a clear path to returns. If you’re building in food and beverage, you’ll walk away with practical tactics on retail readiness, distributor onboarding, cash flow management, co‑packer evaluation, and how to present numbers investors actually believe. More than anything, you’ll hear why hope isn’t blind optimism—it’s the discipline of shortening the time between a setback and a solution.

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