The 10-Day Go/No-Go
Find out if your product can make money before you spend $80,000 finding out.
A 10-day Go/No-Go study from two operators who launched one of the first all-organic bars in the U.S. and ran their own SQF-certified plant. Real plant pricing, a real cost to make, and a plain answer: Go, Go with changes, or Not yet. $2,500. New starts every week.
Your answer in 10 business days: all five answers within 10 business days of payment and your kickoff materials.
Where founders get hurt
Four ways a good product loses money
Most founders learn these numbers after the money is spent. The study puts them in front of you first.
The price trap
A $2.49 bar that costs $1.40 to make loses $0.28 on every sale, because after retailer and distributor margins the brand only sees about $1.12.
The crowded shelf
The fifth bar with the same claim. Buyers won’t swap out a brand they already carry.
Hard to make
Only one plant can run it. That means higher cost, longer timelines and no leverage.
The cash cliff
Broke before the reorder. Plants want deposits up front; retailers pay in 30 to 60 days.
Five questions
The five answers you leave with
1
Where does it sit on the shelf?
2
How does it stack up against five rivals?
3
Who can make it, and for how much?
4
How much cash do you need to reach the first reorder?
5
Go, Go with changes, or Not yet?
What you get
What $2,500 buys
A kickoff call
45 minutes with Glenn and Liz to lock the one product, format and sales channel, your target shelf price and the money you have.
A hands-on product read
Liz tastes and handles your samples, or reads your recipe, for texture, binding, shelf-life risk and how it will run on a line.
A shelf check
Five competing products in your channel: price, size, price per ounce and where yours fits.
A cost model you keep
Ingredients at bulk pricing, packaging and tolling, shown as a cost range per unit against your target, in a Google Sheet you can change.
Plants that would run it
Whether co-packers in our network make your format, with typical minimums and rough tolling. We call them to confirm. We don’t name plants in the study; naming and introducing one comes with Co-Packer Placement.
Your cash to first shelf
What it takes from today to your first retailer payment, including the certifications and lab tests you’ll need to budget for.
Then the verdict. A recorded readout call with both of us, a short written summary with a one-page scorecard, a formulation brief if you go ahead, and 14 days of follow-up questions by email.
See what you get
A sample Go/No-Go scorecard
Sample: plant-based oat & date bar · natural grocery · details changed to protect the client
VERDICT
Go with changes
Your bar can be made and sold at a profit in natural grocery, if the binder changes before the first run.
Next step: Launchpad COO. We pick the plant and run the pilot.
You also get the editable cost model behind every number, the recorded readout call, and 14 days of email questions.
Who does the work
Glenn and Liz Ward. In 1995 we launched BumbleBar, one of the first all-organic bars in the U.S., and took it national through Whole Foods into the U.S. and Canada. We built our own SQF-certified plant to make it, eventually running more than a million bars a month, and co-packed for other brands. SQF Practitioners and PCQIs. We’ve made the expensive mistakes so you don’t have to. You talk to us, not a sales team.
What you can count on
- Your answer in 10 business days: all five answers within 10 business days of payment and your kickoff materials.
- A “Not yet” is a delivered answer. It usually saves founders far more than $2,500. No refunds after the readout.
From a founder
“Snackteva’s professionalism shone through in the feasibility study they conducted for my food project. Their thorough research, resource management, and budgeting skills gave me a clear view of the project’s scope. Their realistic assessment was crucial in confidently deciding my business model.”
Founder, startup wellness brand
Who it’s for
- Founders with an idea or a kitchen recipe
- Founders raising money who need real numbers
- Brands adding a new product to the line
What it doesn’t cover
- Formulation. We read your product; we don’t develop it. That’s the next project.
- Lab testing. Shelf-life, nutrition and micro tests are flagged and priced, not run.
- Claims or label review. We’ll refer you to a regulatory reviewer for that.
- More than one product, format or channel. A second format or channel is quoted separately.
A credit toward your next step
$500 toward what comes next
Start Formulation or Launchpad COO within 60 days of your readout and $500 comes off. Credit is not cash and ends if that project ends early.
Questions
Before you book
What do I need to send?
A short intake form, your recipe or ingredient list, and up to three sets of samples if you have them. We sign a mutual NDA first. The 10-day clock starts once payment and those kickoff materials are in.
Do you make bench samples?
No. Liz works from your own samples or your recipe. Developing or fixing the formula is the Formulation project, and the study tells you whether it’s worth doing.
What if the answer is Not yet?
Then the study did its job for $2,500 instead of $80,000. We tell you exactly what would have to change, and you keep the cost model to test it.
Do you review label claims?
No. We list the certifications and tests your claims will need and what they cost. Final claim and label sign-off goes to a regulatory reviewer we can refer you to.
How is it paid?
$2,500 in full at signing.
We’re already in production. Is this for us?
Probably not. If your product is already running, Co-Packer Placement or an operations review is the better fit. Book a call and we’ll tell you which.
Decide before you spend.
Twenty minutes, no pitch. If a study isn’t the right first step, we’ll tell you what is.
Prefer to talk first? Book a 20-minute call.
$2,500 covers one product, one format and one sales channel. Paid at signing. Mutual NDA first.