R&D RADIO: Building a Reliable Formula Brand with Casey Bauer, COO, Bobbie

In this special R&D Radio episode, guest host Caitlin Bricker sits down with Casey Bauer, COO of Bobbie, one of only four infant formula manufacturers in the United States, to dig into what "test obsessed" really means when your product is a baby's sole source of nutrition.

Casey has spent almost a year at Bobbie overseeing quality, regulatory, and supply chain, following roles as COO at Kate Farms, a leading medical nutrition company, and operations leadership at Pharmavite (Nature Made) and Nutrabolt. That background in sole-source and medical nutrition shaped how seriously he takes food safety at Bobbie, where the company runs over 2,000 safety and quality checks and manufactures under one roof at its facility in Heath, Ohio.

Caitlin and Casey cover what it means to be one of only four infant formula manufacturers in the U.S., how Bobbie tests raw materials, bulk powder, and finished cans for redundancy, why the company still partners with a contract manufacturer even with in-house production growing nearly 300% year over year, and how the Bobbie promise protects subscriber inventory during shortages and recalls.

Listen in as they discuss:

• The added pressure and responsibility of being one of only four infant formula manufacturers in the U.S.
• What "test obsessed" looks like in practice, including 2,000+ safety and quality checks per product
• Why Bobbie tests at multiple stages, from raw materials to bulk powder to the finished can
• How evolving test methods and lower detection limits continually raise Bobbie's own safety bar
• Why Bobbie still partners with a contract manufacturer even as in-house production scales
• How Bobbie's transparency tracker lets any customer look up testing results by lot number
• What the Bobbie promise is and how it protects subscriber inventory during shortages and recalls
• Lessons from the 2022 infant formula shortage and what other food and beverage brands can learn from it
• Why domestic manufacturing and staying close to the supply chain matters for food safety
• How Bobbie vets and continuously monitors new supply chain partners through audits and ongoing reviews

Episode Links:

• Casey Bauer LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/casey-bauer-557b44/ 
• Bobbie LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/bobbie-baby
• Bobbie Website: www.hibobbie.com
• Bobbie Instagram: @bobbie
  
  

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Show Links:

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• Visit host Caitlin's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/caitlinbricker
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email podcast@startupcpg.com
• Episode music by Super Fantastics