Executive Search Success Story: Building the Executive Team to Expand a Beverage Co-Packer Into Aseptic and High-Speed Can Capacity for Emerging Brands

How JRG Partners executed a confidential, multi-role North American executive search strategy that equipped a growing beverage co-packer with the president, operations, commercial, quality, and finance leadership required to add aseptic and high-speed can lines, serve the surge of emerging functional and better-for-you beverage brands, and scale from a single-site business into a multi-site platform.

The Challenge

A beverage co-packer had built a strong single-site business as emerging functional, protein, and better-for-you beverage brands flooded the market seeking production partners. Demand far exceeded its hot-fill capacity, customers were asking for aseptic and sleek can formats it could not produce, and its owners had approved a $140M investment in aseptic and high-speed can lines and a second site. The founder-president wanted to step back, the operations team had never commissioned aseptic technology, quality systems were not at the level national retailers and larger brands required, commercial relationships were informal, and finance was not equipped to manage the investment or investor reporting. Executive leadership identified several critical vulnerabilities threatening the expansion:

• A founder-president stepping back with no successor
• Aseptic and high-speed can technology the operations team had never commissioned or run
• Quality and food safety systems below the standards of larger brands and retailers
• Informal commercial relationships with hundreds of emerging brands and no key account structure
• A $140M capital program and second site with no finance leadership to manage it
• Customer credit and volume volatility inherent in serving early-stage brands

Recognizing that the expansion required a professional executive team, the owners and board engaged JRG Partners to recruit a President, Vice President of Operations, Chief Commercial Officer, Vice President of Quality & Food Safety, and Chief Financial Officer. The company required an executive search partner with deep beverage co-packing expertise and access to leaders who had commissioned aseptic capacity.

Why They Chose JRG Partners

CPG Co-Manufacturing & Co-Packing Focus

JRG Partners maintains a dedicated practice serving co-manufacturers and co-packers across food, beverage, and consumer products, with a clear understanding of beverage technology, emerging brand customer dynamics, and the leadership profiles that scale co-packing businesses.

Aseptic and Beverage Technology Experience

Our firm has extensive experience recruiting operations and quality leaders who have commissioned and run aseptic, hot-fill, and high-speed can operations at branded and contract beverage manufacturers.

Founder Succession Expertise

Our team has a documented history of recruiting presidents and executive teams to succeed founders in owner-backed manufacturing businesses while preserving culture and customer relationships.

Our Executive Search Strategy

Phase 1 — Expansion Plan Alignment

Our consultants partnered directly with the founder, owners, and board to review the capital program, line specifications, customer pipeline, quality gaps, and the founder’s transition plan, defining five executive profiles sequenced to line commissioning.

Phase 2 — Talent Identification & Mapping

Our research team performed an extensive talent mapping initiative targeting presidents, operations, commercial, quality, and finance executives at beverage co-packers, branded beverage manufacturers, and bottlers who had led documented aseptic start-ups and multi-site expansions. Over 380 executives were systematically assessed across these sectors.

Phase 3 — Candidate Engagement

Priority during outreach was given to leaders with a documented history of commissioning aseptic and high-speed can lines, succeeding founders, building key account programs for emerging and established brands, achieving retailer-grade quality certifications, and managing large capital programs with investor reporting. Only candidates meeting these strict performance baselines advanced.

Phase 4 — Selection Process

Finalists completed working sessions with the founder, presented expansion plans to the owners and board, completed structured leadership assessments, and underwent reference verification focused on quantified commissioning, commercial, and financial outcomes.

Key Outcomes

• 380+ beverage manufacturing and co-packing executive profiles mapped across North America.
• Successfully placed a synchronized executive tier spanning president, operations, commercial, quality, and finance within seven months.
• Commissioned aseptic and high-speed can lines on schedule and opened a second site within eighteen months.
• Signed multi-year agreements with twelve scaling brands and two national beverage companies.
• Achieved SQF Level 3 and national retailer approvals at both sites.
• Grew revenue from $240M to $560M with margin improved by 350 basis points.