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Margins or Death: The No-Bullshit Playbook for Surviving and Winning in CPG
Most CPG books are written by consultants.
This one’s written by a war-tested operator who’s actually done the work.
Margins or Death isn’t another fluffy business book filled with buzzwords and fake optimism. It’s a punch-to-the-gut playbook for founders, operators, and builders in food, beverage, and wellness who are sick of bleeding money, chasing broken advice, and pretending everything’s fine.
This is the no-BS survival guide to building a real CPG business — one that actually makes money.
Inside, you'll
Field-proven strategies to increase margins without killing your brand
Brutally honest lessons from scaling to 7,000+ stores — and surviving the fallout
A step-by-step blueprint for managing co-mans, retailers, freight, promos, and chaos
Tools, calculators, and frameworks you can steal immediately
War stories, red flags, and the truth no one else will tell you
Whether you're launching your first SKU or scaling to national retail, this book will help you stop guessing, start profiting, and build a CPG company that can actually go the distance.
Margins aren’t optional.
They’re your oxygen.
Get them right — or die trying.
This one’s written by a war-tested operator who’s actually done the work.
Margins or Death isn’t another fluffy business book filled with buzzwords and fake optimism. It’s a punch-to-the-gut playbook for founders, operators, and builders in food, beverage, and wellness who are sick of bleeding money, chasing broken advice, and pretending everything’s fine.
This is the no-BS survival guide to building a real CPG business — one that actually makes money.
Inside, you'll
Field-proven strategies to increase margins without killing your brand
Brutally honest lessons from scaling to 7,000+ stores — and surviving the fallout
A step-by-step blueprint for managing co-mans, retailers, freight, promos, and chaos
Tools, calculators, and frameworks you can steal immediately
War stories, red flags, and the truth no one else will tell you
Whether you're launching your first SKU or scaling to national retail, this book will help you stop guessing, start profiting, and build a CPG company that can actually go the distance.
Margins aren’t optional.
They’re your oxygen.
Get them right — or die trying.
288 pages, Paperback
Published June 22, 2025
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 25, 2025
I really loved this one. It’s rare to find a CPG book written by someone who actually understands the business and Steven Dontigny delivers. Theres absolutely no fluff, just honest lessons, hard-won experience, and practical tools you can use immediately.
If you work in CPG food and beverage industry, this book hits different. The margin strategies, the co‑man and retail insights (and of course the war stories), feels real because it is real. It’s the kind of book that makes you rethink how you operate and where you’re bleeding money. Defiantly worth the read and revisiting.
If you work in CPG food and beverage industry, this book hits different. The margin strategies, the co‑man and retail insights (and of course the war stories), feels real because it is real. It’s the kind of book that makes you rethink how you operate and where you’re bleeding money. Defiantly worth the read and revisiting.
Displaying 1 of 1 review