Shelf to Scale is a podcast featuring conversations with the founders, operators, and industry leaders behind today’s growing consumer products.
Each episode explores how brands expand distribution, navigate retail partnerships, and scale across new channels and markets.
From emerging CPG/FMCG startups to established manufacturers, we unpack the real-world challenges of growing consumer products across retailers, regions, and distribution networks.
Hosted by Devesh Tilokani, Shelf to Scale brings together perspectives from across the consumer goods ecosystem to share what it takes to scale
The $200 Amazon Test Every CPG Founder Should Run First
There’s a $200 Amazon program that gets 30 brutally honest strangers to review your product before you commit to a manufacturer’s MOQs.
Most founders have never heard of it used this way.Shahnawaz Sheikh swears by it, and his own brand went from a website contact-form inquiry to every SKU in every Goodness Me store.
Shahnawaz Sheikh built and exited Mommy Knows Best to a venture capital firm, spent a year chasing generative AI, and came back to brand building with Canadian Grace, a Canadian-made beauty oil brand (argan from UNESCO biosphere reserves in Morocco, marula from Namibia, batana from Honduras).
He spent the first six months online only, tracked return rate instead of retention, and walked into retail buyer meetings, including Walmart Canada, with a folder of proof points instead of a pitch.
Canadian Grace is now heading for 200+ stores across the GTA and expanding its travel retail placement from Toronto to Vancouver and Calgary.
If you’re a CPG or beauty founder deciding between online and retail, Canada and the US, or wondering how to get a retailer to come to you, this is the playbook.
GUEST
Shahnawaz Sheikh, Canadian GraceLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahnawaz-sheikh-b692401a/
Website: https://canadiangrace.ca/SHELF TO SCALE
Weekly conversations with CPG and FMCG founders on distribution, retail and scaling.
Hosted by Devesh Tilokani.
2 Oct 2026
Ethnic Grocers Lose $210K a Year Per Store. Here's Why
Being in Whole Foods won't get your product into an ethnic grocery store.
Aaqib Usmani, CEO at Tasteport, explains what actually does.
How do CPG brands sell to ethnic and independent grocers, and why are those stores losing $210K in profit a year per location?
Aaqib works with the international grocers that serve North America's Asian, Latin and African communities, and his platform holds a catalog of over 15,000 SKUs.
In this conversation he breaks down how CPG founders should approach ethnic grocery stores: why trust beats sales stats, why store-by-store visits beat Zoom calls, why real customer content outperforms influencer content. He also shares the number behind his business: by his estimate, cultural grocers lose about $210,000 in profit per location every year to expiry, redundant labor and poor product discovery.
If you are a CPG or FMCG founder trying to get on shelf in independent and specialty grocery, this is the playbook.
GUEST
Aaqib Usmani, Tasteport
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaqibusmani/
Website: https://tasteport.com/
SHELF TO SCALE
Weekly conversations with CPG and FMCG founders on distribution, retail and scaling.
Hosted by Devesh Tilokani.
#CPG #EthnicGrocery #RetailDistribution
25 Sept 2026
He Quit Goldman Sachs to Make Snacks From Food Waste
Yousuf Ahmed left Goldman Sachs to turn leftover oat milk pulp and corn grits into a better-for-you Cheetos.
Why did his first product, a $15 cookie sandwich, have to die before B-Sides could work?
B-Sides makes upcycled crunch puffs from food manufacturing byproducts that would otherwise be thrown out.
Before that, Yousuf launched a premium pastry line in 25 NYC locations.
He calls it "very expensive market research." He then spent around $30K formulating a snack puff, hit 40% organic reorder rates with zero retention marketing, and chose a Canadian co-man because the lowest US MOQ was 50,000 lbs versus 5,000 lbs in Canada.
If you're building a snack brand and trying to get unit economics, positioning, and your first production run right, this one's for you.
GUEST
Yousuf Ahmed, Founder of B-Sides
Email: yousuf@enjoybsides.com
Website: https://www.enjoybsides.com/
SHELF TO SCALE
Weekly conversations with CPG and FMCG founders on distribution, retail, and scaling.
Hosted by Devesh Tilokani
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23 ratings
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