The Eileen Story

"Son of a..."

You’d think receiving a call about having your products accepted in 180 Jewel-Osco locations would be a moment for celebration. As a scaling CPG brand owner, it felt like navigating another iceberg. Why would I have such a reaction? This is a common feeling among CPG entrepreneurs everywhere. I'm Jordan Karcher, and that story comes from my days as the founder and CEO of Grounds & Hounds Coffee Co.

Before sharing more about myself and the creation of Eileen, let me introduce my co-founder Mike Lorenzen, whom I met over 12 years ago at the University of Notre Dame's business school. Mike is an engineer by trade but transitioned from building high rises in Chicago to building data architecture for leading brands. He has led analytics, strategy, and growth functions for companies like DoorDash, Blink Health, and KAYAK, specializing in creating scalable analytics processes for smart, profitable growth.

My life has always revolved around grocery store shelves. Growing up, my father ran wine and spirits distributors along the East Coast. Beverage brands were king in my house, with copies of Wine Spectator and Whiskey Advocate everywhere. Trips to the store always included checking the distribution, pricing, and promotion of brands in my dad’s portfolio and his competitors. Naturally, after injuries ended my college baseball career, I moved from Miami to Sonoma to start my career in the wine industry.

Five years later, in South Bend, Indiana, I combined my understanding of beverage marketing with my interest in creating scalable CPG brands to launch Grounds & Hounds Coffee Co. I bootstrapped Grounds & Hounds Coffee Co. from my grad school spare bedroom, growing revenue from $800k to $9.5 million in 3 ½ years. I experienced every high and low of rapidly growing an omnichannel CPG brand during this time. One issue bothered me more than anything else: the uphill battle of scaling and managing scale in the grocery space as an emerging brand.

From poor inventory management and inaccurate pricing to sloppy displays and lost facings, it’s nearly impossible to deliver the quality of experience and execution we expect as brand creators. The retail brand to grocery product management is disjointed and outdated. Instead of accepting this as "just the way it is," we’re developing a scalable ecosystem that allows brands to reconnect with and regain control of their products wherever they’re sold.