Barfresh Appoints Marko Matla as Vice President of Supply Chain Co-Manufacturing

Adopt a centralized, data-driven approach to managing outsourced production and packaging partnerships to speed go-to-market and ensure quality. Since launching this initiative, the move began with a 90-day plan to align the product portfolio with the external network, boost throughput for ready-to-blend lines, and tighten governance across vendors.

From adco and pepsiamericas networks, the new executive brings expertise in scaling multi-site production and distribution for beverages.与 degrees in industrial engineering and business administration, he began rolling out a record pace of developments 横跨 goods and pepper-oriented lines, coordinating with companies across markets, including brfh-branded products and other categories, to support selling and growth. Steve from pepsiamericas described these developments as a meaningful shift for the brand’s external manufacturing footprint.

In the near term, a dedicated position is being established to own external manufacturing relationships, backed by a metrics-driven playbook that tracks on-time launches, yield, and cost per unit. The plan targets a 25% reduction in cycle times from concept to carton within 12 months and a 15-point improvement in fill-rate for core SKUs–especially ready-to-blend beverages and pepper lines. This momentum comes as the companys teams align around common targets and the developments continue to unfold.

Three practical levers will drive impact: governance, capacity flexibility, and product architecture. Establish a quarterly cross-functional review with finance, product, and commercial teams; implement a unified supplier-pooled capacity model; standardize packaging and formulation specs to accelerate launches for brfh and pepper lines. The cadence helps sustain selling momentum and aligns with Steve’s view that developments in the beverage space come from tight coordination across companys and partners.

Barfresh Leadership Update

Recommendation: centralize information flows into a single logistics hub to reduce uncertainties and accelerate on-premise execution across pepsiamericas’ footprint.

While this leadership transition consolidates responsibility for end-to-end operations, the plan stays focused on data-driven decisions, clear accountabilities, and measurable improvements. The leader previously held cross-functional roles, building knowledge across industries and holding a bachelors degree, complemented by ongoing education. This profile is instrumental in aligning business goals with execution realities in on-premise production and field distribution, and it should balance speed with quality across markets; this transition helped stabilize cash flow during the change.

• Establish a central information platform feeding live logistics dashboards across the nasdaq-listed brand family, enabling real-time visibility into orders, inventory, and supplier performance.
• Standardize collaborative manufacturing arrangements with partner sites to optimize on-premise production, with quality controls managed by an integrated agency program.
• Manage ingredients with a focus on pepper flavors, ensuring consistency across industries and demand signals from pepsiamericas’ product portfolio.
• Consolidate knowledge across the organization to reduce uncertainties, empowering quick decision-making while maintaining regulatory compliance.
• Build data governance and education initiatives so teams can access reliable information and stay responsible for performance metrics.

1. Previously led planning and analytics for cross-functional units, delivering a 12-month roadmap with target on-time delivery of 95% and inventory accuracy around 98%, instrumental in reducing waste and improving cost efficiency.
2. Education and credentials: holds a bachelors degree and ongoing education in operations management, with a track record of applying knowledge to business outcomes.
3. Responsible for aligning procurement interfaces and distribution partners across a diverse set of industries, including beverages and nutrition, while managing risk and uncertainties.

12-month metrics and milestones include improvements in logistics cycle times, information accuracy, and supplier responsiveness, with a target to support the business’s performance on the nasdaq listing and the brand family’s growth trajectory.

Define Marko Matla’s scope and decision-making authority in Co-Manufacturing

Based in a logistics hub, marko should oversee the position responsible for external production partnerships across pepsico and pepsiamericas, with scope including onboarding, capacity validation, quality assurance, and ongoing improvement of goods delivered to customers.

markos began his career in the industry within the pepsico ecosystem, building expertise across supply networks and customer interfaces for edible products and drinks. He has led cross-functional initiatives across groups servicing the pepsico footprint, including pepper-based flavorings used in drinks and other consumables, and has built a strong track record of improving partner performance.

The decision framework assigns routine approvals to marko the authority to green-light onboarding, ramp plans, and contract amendments within defined thresholds. Strategic or high-impact changes require escalation to a governing forum and coordination with customer-facing groups to ensure alignment with client needs.

To drive accountability, a formal governance cadence pairs with a performance dashboard focusing on on-time goods, quality conformity, and cost improvement. The aim is a lean, resilient production network that supports continuous uplift across pepsico’s pepsiamericas network.

Map the impact on Brand’s supplier network and manufacturing partners

Recommendation: Build a dynamic map of the procurement ecosystem, overseeing logistics to minimize risk and accelerate onboarding of alternate contract manufacturers in Ohio and the central corridor by October. This will reduce single-source dependency for Kroger and other major stores selling to the customer base.

1. Audit current partners using accounts data, capturing capacity, lead times, quality metrics, and contract terms. Include Franklin, OH facilities as a baseline; identify brady and rick as primary contacts for onboarding and performance reviews; flag data in the источник to track provenance; look for opportunities to convert 60-70% of relationships to multi-source within six months.

2. Risk scoring and prioritization: compute exposure by spend and by criticality to the most important customers; this helps guide diversification and avoid overreliance on a single source in central markets and stores that sell to consumers.

3. Diversification plan: recruit 2-3 additional contract manufacturers in Ohio and in the central time zone to preserve service levels for Kroger and similar retailers; implement phased onboarding within 90 days; require partners to demonstrate capacity to meet peak demand and to support last-mile logistics.

4. Governance and oversight: establish a cross-functional committee to oversee partner performance; oversee monthly reviews and quarterly audits; align with the brand’s service standards and accounts teams; forward-looking metrics and action plans will be shared with customer teams.

5. Metrics and ongoing management: track on-time delivery, defect rate, and production yield; publish a dashboard for general leadership and consumer-facing teams; ensure stores receive consistent product availability; measure how this shift improves customer satisfaction and loyalty; this includes actions that come from each quarterly review.

Workforce criteria and education: prioritize partners with workforce development programs; preference to teams with bachelors-level education or certifications; previously earned credentials in quality assurance and manufacturing; this approach is informed by lessons from the Franklin region and Ohio markets; the companys procurement team should engage brady and rick to coordinate outreach to local colleges and training providers; this education path strengthens service capabilities and customer confidence.

Timeframe and sources: October target for initial diversification; time-bound milestones and data from internal accounts module; источник.

Set transition milestones: onboarding, knowledge transfer, and system access

Recommendation: implement a three-track transition sprint with defined milestones and accountable owners. Onboarding should start at on-premise facilities in columbus, ohio, with introductions to central logistics, bottlers, and adco partners. Plan a two-week immersion for the field team and agency partners to align operating rhythms with consumer-facing activities, including frozen product handling and serving schedules. The objective is to have the new leadership group served with role clarity and secured access to critical information; this onboarding should produce a runbook and a nasdaq-friendly governance checklist. Track progress in a living log that records daily milestones and learnings.

Knowledge transfer should build a living ledger centered on assumptions, process maps, and critical information. Capture details about bottling lines, bottlers, marketing calendars, and the division’s field operations; include information on consumer pathways and the family of partner companies. The plan should be co-led by steve and kristie, with markos as liaison to the agency network. This approach has helped establish a single source of truth and should continue to evolve; frozen handling, serving patterns, and field constraints must be documented in the record within a central repository. The timeline spans years, with quarterly reviews in columbus and ohio to ensure alignment.

System access should be delivered in three waves: initial access for key roles, then elevated permissions for operations and IT, then read-only access for field and partner teams. Provide access to ERP, order management, and marketing platforms; enable bottling dashboards used by bottlers and agencies; ensure on-premise devices and remote connections meet security standards; establish checkpoints at 30, 60, and 90 days; tie these to logistics workflows and centralized reporting. Plan to continue monitoring and adjusting to avoid bottlenecks and to support sustained progress across the ohio market.

Define KPIs: lead times, quality, cost, and capacity alignment with Co-Manufacturing goals

Lead times and scheduling: Set explicit targets for every external production partner, with a standard order-to-delivery window of 7–10 days for beverages and 12–16 days for foods. Build a biweekly dashboard to flag delays, capacity constraints, and schedule changes. Create a forecast accuracy metric: plan versus actual demand within ±5% for the next eight weeks. Establish escalation routes for delays: notify logistics partner, adjust production windows, or trigger expedited options.

Quality performance: Define defect rate targets below 0.2% across ingredients; first-pass yield ≥ 98% for ready-to-blend formulations; implement statistically sound sampling per lot; require supplier certificates and end-to-end traceability for ingredients and finished beverages; implement corrective actions within five business days of any deviation.

Costs and value: Track total landed cost per case including packaging; monitor price volatility and spend against baseline; measure cost delta versus prior quarter; negotiate volume-based rebates tied to performance; implement improvement projects that reduce waste and shorten cycle times.

Capacity alignment: Monitor forecast versus actual production across external partners; set capacity utilization targets in the 85–90% range; maintain a 20% capacity cushion for peak demand periods; use scenario planning to align production calendars with marketing campaigns and promotions.

Governance and data: Create a single source of truth with input from division directors and marketing leads; hold quarterly reviews in October when planning for next year; ensure an audit trail for all KPI data; assign ownership to a responsible team overseeing supplier performance and risk.

Operational dashboards: Implement weekly dashboards showing lead-time by partner, monthly cost variance, quality scorecards, and capacity heatmaps; provide executive visibility to chief officers and the board, enabling rapid decision-making on any variance.

Establish risk controls and compliance checks for quality, safety, and vendor governance

Implement a formal risk-control framework that classifies suppliers by risk level and ties each tier to concrete quality, safety, and governance controls. Build a centralized record of supplier performance, certifications, incidents, and corrective actions. The effort began with mapping critical suppliers, including adco and middlestreet, to product lines and stores, then establishing a governance cadence with leadership oversight. Leadership helped shape the approach, which became instrumental for manufacturing operations and overall success. Use nasdaq metrics and источник data feeds to inform board reviews while keeping sensitive operational data secure. These developments lay the groundwork for future supplier collaboration across companies.

Put on-premise inspection protocols for incoming goods, with sampling plans defined by risk tier and 100% traceability from source lot to customer. Set targets of 95% on-time deliveries and 2% non-conforming goods, with corrective actions completed within 30 days. Define governance positions and responsibilities for the team; oversight by leadership to ensure accountability and overseeing governance processes. Integrate safety checks for handling and storage, with incident reporting within 24 hours and escalation for high-risk events.

Codify vendor governance in contracts: quality clauses, safety obligations, change-control procedures, audit rights, and a supplier code of conduct. Maintain a living supplier register with performance histories, and designate markos as oversight lead. Staff with bachelors degrees in procurement, risk management, or related fields oversee audits, with franklin-based positions as control towers. On the ground, align procedures for pepper and blue packaging lines, goods movements, and on-premise inventories. Include data-sharing requirements with источник feeds and other trusted sources. These developments reinforce customer confidence and align with nasdaq governance expectations.