In this debut episode of R&D Radio, a series hosted by Adam Yee, Adam sits down with Rachel Zemser, founder of A La Carte Connections. With 30+ years in the field and hundreds of products brought to market, Rachel shares the advice that stops most entrepreneurs in their tracks: before you spend a dime on R&D, find your co packer.Rachel explains why the manufacturing process represents 60% of what you're actually building, walks through how to use platforms like Keychain and PartnerSlate to start that search, and shares the real story of bringing Island Vibe — musician Pretty Kenny's cocktail mixer — from kitchen concept to award-winning pasteurized beverage. She and Adam also dig into the sweetener landscape: why allulose and erythritol are letting formulators down on functionality, why small amounts of real sugar are quietly making a comeback, and date sugar's surprising FDA classification.Listen in as they discuss:Why co packer conversations should come before any R&DHow having a food scientist gets you taken seriously by manufacturersThe Island Vibe cocktail mixer story: concept to production runCo packer negotiating dynamics — and why founders need to bend more than they thinkThe "cleanish label" trend: small amounts of real sugar returning for functionalityWhy allulose won't crystallize and erythritol won't brownDate sugar's status as a non-added sugar under current FDA guidanceEpisode Links:Rachel Zemser - Food Science Industry Consultant, A La Carte Connections🔗 Website: www.alacartconnections.com 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/culinologist/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)Join the Startup CPG Slack community (35K+ members and growing!)Follow @startupcpgVisit host Adam's Linkedin Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.comEpisode music by Super Fantastics