Three Lessons From a CPG Comeback

In 2015, Trends member Sam Friedman and his partner Miriam launched MUD — a plant-based, dairy-free ice cream brand, sweetened only with dates — as a boardwalk pop-up in Rockaway Beach, New York. 

By 2018, they had become a CPG brand with 12 distribution centers shipping to 500 stores across 20+ states. But there were problems:

  • They didn’t have their manufacturing or COGS fully nailed down
  • Their distributors were bleeding them with deductions
  • They had no marketing budget left to grow