Real gross margin
Margin after landed cost, freight, trade spend, promotions, and retailer deductions. The reported number and the defensible number are rarely the same. I know how to bridge them.
For founders of food, beverage, beauty & personal care brands
The advisor who knows what your brand is really worth, and how to sell it for that.
Most M&A advisors read a consumer brand off the top line. I read it the way a buyer will: gross margin after trade spend and freight, how much of revenue sits with one retailer, DTC velocity and repeat rate, and the inventory tying up your cash. If you are thinking about selling your CPG brand, you should work with someone who understands the numbers underneath the label, not just the revenue on the cover.
Every conversation is confidential. No pressure, no obligation.
Why me
I live inside the financials of consumer brands every day.
My wife Rhiannon and I run Thryve Accounting & Advisory, and founder-led CPG is one of our core specialties. That is not a line on a brochure. It means I spend my days in the books and unit economics of consumer brands: building clean gross margin after landed cost and promotions, untangling trade spend and retailer deductions, getting inventory and working capital under control, and turning a founder's mental math into numbers a buyer can trust.
That is the exact work that decides what a CPG brand sells for. Most advisors meet your financials for the first time when the deal is already moving. I have usually been living in numbers like yours long before a buyer ever asks for them, so I know where the value is, where the soft spots are, and how to fix them before anyone runs diligence. When it is time to sell, that head start is leverage.
Selling a consumer brand is not like selling any other business.
A generalist broker lists your revenue and misses the things that actually set your price. CPG has its own economics, and a buyer prices every one of them:
Retailer & channel concentration
One big retailer or one channel carrying most of your revenue reads as risk to a buyer. DTC, Amazon, wholesale, and retail each get valued differently.
Velocity & repeat
Sell-through, units per store per week, repeat purchase, and subscription. Buyers pay for demand that pulls product off the shelf, not just a hot launch.
Inventory & working capital
Consumer brands tie up cash in inventory. The net working capital peg alone can move millions at closing, and it is where unprepared sellers quietly lose money.
I know who buys consumer brands, and what each one will pay.
Consumer is one of the most active M&A markets there is, and the buyers are not a mystery. Strategic acquirers buy a brand to add a category, a channel, or a demographic they cannot reach on their own. Private equity platforms roll up food, beverage, beauty, and personal care and pay for a brand that bolts onto what they already own. Family offices want a durable consumer cash flow they can hold. Larger brands buy to fill out a shelf or a SKU range. Each one values your brand on a different basis and structures a deal differently. The mistake founders make is taking the first inbound from the first acquirer. My job is to put the right buyers in competition for your brand so you negotiate from strength, with the terms, the cash at closing, and the earnout, if any, that actually work for you.
How I help you sell.
One advisor who understands your world, with two firms behind the deal.
First we get the brand ready: clean, defensible gross margin, inventory and working capital under control, and a clear picture of channel mix, velocity, and trade spend, handled through Thryve Accounting & Advisory, ideally a year or two before you go to market. Then we position the brand, build a targeted list of the buyers who would pay a premium for it, and run a disciplined process that creates real competition. The transaction itself is executed through Optima Mergers & Acquisitions, a Dallas middle-market investment bank named to Axial's Advisor 100. You get senior, CPG-fluent attention and institutional muscle on the same deal.
Questions founders ask
Straight answers before we talk.
Who buys CPG brands?
Most active buyers fall into a few groups: strategic acquirers adding a brand, category, or channel, private equity platforms rolling up food, beverage, beauty, or personal care, family offices that want a durable consumer cash flow, and larger brands expanding their SKU range or retail footprint. Each values a brand differently, and knowing which buyer fits yours is how you create competition instead of taking the first offer.
What makes selling a CPG brand different?
Consumer brands have their own economics: gross margin after landed cost and freight, trade spend and promotions, retailer and channel concentration, DTC versus retail mix and velocity, returns and deductions, and inventory that ties up real cash. The net working capital peg alone can move millions at closing. A generalist broker misses these. They are exactly the levers that set your multiple, and they need to be understood and documented before a buyer sees them.
How are CPG brands valued?
Most consumer brands are valued on a multiple of adjusted EBITDA, and faster-growing or DTC-heavy brands are sometimes valued on a multiple of revenue. What moves the number is the quality underneath it: real gross margin after promotions and freight, repeat purchase and velocity, how concentrated revenue is in one retailer or one channel, and how much the brand depends on the founder. Clean, defensible margins and a credible growth story are what earn a premium.
When should I start preparing to sell my CPG brand?
Ideally one to two years out. Cleaning up gross margin reporting, separating one-time launch costs from the real cost base, getting inventory and working capital under control, and reducing how much the brand leans on the founder all take time, and they are what lift the price. Start early and you go to market with leverage instead of taking what the first buyer offers.
Do you only work with brands in Texas?
My home base is Texas, but consumer is a national market and so are its buyers. I work with founder-led CPG brands across the country. The first conversation is the same wherever you are.