Bryan Shelton - Bringing a CPG Mindset to a 100-Year Old Produce Brand

On this episode, we’re joined by Bryan Shelton, the VP of Sales & Marketing at Giorgio Fresh — the largest grower, shipper, distributor of fresh mushrooms.

Before joining Giorgio, Bryan held senior sales roles at legacy CPG companies like Del Monte, Pinnacle Foods, and Kellogg. At Giorgio, he’s leading a modern transformation of a nearly 100-year-old company, pushing mushrooms into the spotlight with value-added innovations like stuffed mushrooms, savory sauté kits, and new grill-friendly formats.

We dive into how Bryan’s background in frozen and shelf-stable CPG informs his strategy in fresh produce, the challenges of building a brand around what’s often seen as a commodity, and how Giorgio is repositioning mushrooms as the ultimate superfood.

Bryan shares lessons on launching new SKUs with limited shelf life, how to avoid landmines in the foodservice channel, the tradeoffs of packaging refreshes, and why being great at the fundamentals — quality, service, relationships — still wins in produce.

Episode Highlights:
🍄 The 100-year story of Giorgio and its global reach
📦 Building brand equity in a category most people consider unbranded
🛠️ Why packaging form factor matters more than you think in produce
🧑‍🌾 How shelf life, QA, and crop cycles change how you sell
📈 “Yes, if…” — Bryan’s philosophy for navigating retail requests
🚚 What goes wrong when brands scale too early
🍴 Why foodservice is a low-barrier brand flywheel
🧠 The product launch framework Giorgio uses
🧃 The origin story of Giorgio’s global bottling business
⚖️ Why your best work won’t always show up in your year-end numbers

Table of Contents:
00:00 – Bryan’s background and Giorgio overview
04:00 – Key differences between CPG and produce
07:00 – Brand-building in commodity-driven categories
10:00 – Shelf life, retail strategy & e-comm influence
14:00 – Product innovation, testing, and scale challenges
20:00 – Packaging design: visibility, structure & sustainability
25:00 – Foodservice vs. retail: how to think about each
30:00 – Mistakes, mentorship & leadership lessons
34:00 – Why mushrooms are the world’s most underrated superfood

Links:
Giorgio Fresh – https://www.giorgiofresh.com
Follow Bryan on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-shelton-14b45413/

Follow Adam on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg
Check out https://www.kitprint.co for CPG production design support