#212 - King of Sauce: How Eric Skae Has Grown Carbone Fine Food into a $100M+ Brand

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, Daniel Scharff welcomes back Eric Skae, CEO of Carbone Fine Food, to discuss the brand’s rapid ascent in the premium pasta sauce category. Eric shares how Carbone scaled from launch to more than 25,000 retail doors in under five years, while maintaining strong velocities and brand integrity.

They explore Carbone’s distribution-first strategy, disciplined approach to innovation, and the importance of product quality in building consumer trust. Eric also provides insights into team building, co-packer management, capital efficiency, and sustainable scaling.

This episode offers valuable lessons for emerging food and beverage brands navigating growth and category disruption.

Don’t miss this valuable episode. Tune in now!

Listen in as they share about:

• Carbone Brand Growth
• Go-to-Market & Strategy
• Product Innovation
• Operations & Quality Control
• Team & Hiring
• Funding & Capital Efficiency
• Sales & Retail Relationships
• Advice for Early-Stage Brands

Episode Links:
Website: https://carbonefinefood.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-skae-7712b017/ 

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 http://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)
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• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Daniel's Linkedin 
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at [email protected]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics