The shelf is crowded
A good product still gets lost if the claim, pack, and sell-in don’t say the same thing. Buyers and shoppers will not do that work for you.
Fractional CMO · Food & beverage
Senior marketing leadership. Built for food and beverage.
Birds embeds senior marketing executives inside growing food and beverage companies. Strategy, brand, retail, and team — from day one — without the $200k hire.
Kraft
McDonald’s
Hershey’s
21+ years
$700M P&Ls
Toronto
The work
Food and beverage brands have real marketing problems. We exist to solve them.
Channels don’t add up
Retail, trade, DTC, and paid can all be busy and still miss the sales plan. The work needs one commercial story, not four separate calendars.
The founder is still the brief
You approve claims between production runs. Your team and agency partners are ready to move — they need a plan they can run without waiting on you.
The offer
Two ways to work together.
The main engagement is a fractional CMO seat. If you need a decision this week, book a one-hour advisory.
Embedded · month to month
Fractional CMO
$5–12k / month
10–20 hours a week inside the business. We own the marketing function — not a pile of projects. A full-time CMO in Canada runs $180–250k plus benefits. You pay for the time the company can actually use.
01 · Own the function
Priorities, calendar, KPIs, and the story you take to the board.
02 · Position the brand
One claim. One buyer. Pack, site, sell-in, and ads that say the same thing.
03 · Build the growth engine
Retail, trade, shopper, and DTC under one commercial plan.
04 · Stand up the team
Hire the next marketer. Give agency partners a brief they can run with.
Working session · no retainer
One-hour advisory
$350
A focused hour on the stuck thing — a listing, a launch, a claim, a pack, a team. Not a sales call. You leave with a point of view and the next three moves.
- One hour with a senior CPG marketer
- Bring the brief, the numbers, or the pack
- Written notes after the session
- If you later retain us, the hour still stands on its own
Approach
Practical leadership. Not a slide factory.
The first week produces a plan you can run. Every week after that produces decisions, not more workshops. We sit in the business until the function can stand without us — or until you hire the full-time CMO we helped you specify.
01
Diagnose
Days 1–7Brand, channels, spend, team, and the numbers — what is actually happening, not the deck version. You leave with a 90-day plan and a no-list.
02
Embed
Days 8–30One claim. Owners on the plan. We join the operating meetings that decide spend, listings, and what the team stops doing.
03
Drive
Days 31–90The two or three commercial moves: a listing story, a launch, a hire, a cut. Reviewed monthly. If we are not moving the business, you should not keep us.
Proof, not theatre
The work has to survive a buyer meeting.
We helped a Canadian food brand move from mixed messaging to one market position. Touchpoints were mapped, the claim was simplified, the site and ads were aligned. Organic traffic rose. Lead quality rose. Conversion followed.
Fit
We would rather decline the wrong brief.
We’re a fit if
- Food, beverage, or CPG with a product already in market
- Walking toward retail, or already listed and stalling
- A team or agency partner ready to run a sharper plan
- Ready for a $350 hour — or a $5–12k monthly seat
We’re not if
- Pre-product, still looking for a concept
- You want a media-buying shop or a logo-only refresh
- You need a full-time CMO seated this quarter
- You want a 60-page strategy and no one in the meetings
About
Wingmen, not gurus.
Why “wingmen”
In the air, a wingman does not take the stick. They fly the complementary line — watching the angles the lead cannot see. That is the job here. The founder flies the business. We fly marketing beside them.
We are based in Toronto, at 109 Front Street East. We work with food and beverage brands across Canada, and with companies entering this market.
Founder · Wingman
Mathieu Gamache
MBA · ex Kraft, McDonald’s, Hershey’s
Mathieu has spent 21 years in food and beverage marketing. At Kraft Canada he led storied brands including Kraft Dinner and Kraft Singles, and ran dairy innovation — a multi-million-dollar pipeline and a new kids’ snacking brand. At McDonald’s he led the breakfast team on a $700M+ Canadian business, the All Day Breakfast launch, and McDelivery with Uber Eats. At Hershey Canada he headed core chocolate brands including Reese and OH Henry. The OH Henry 425 campaign took Gold at the London International Awards.
He started Birds to give growing CPG companies the same calibre of judgment — without asking them to fund a full-time seat they are not ready to fill.
Principal · Wingwoman
Melanie Courtois
Brand strategist · 25 years · founder
Melanie has spent more than 25 years helping brands grow and connect with people in a way that lasts. She has worked inside large organizations and built her own ventures, so she knows both the board-level story and the Tuesday-morning reality of running a company that is still finding its rhythm.
She is the partner founders get when they want strategy that respects the humans who have to live with it — and a brand that can be profitable without becoming cynical.
FAQ
Straight answers
- How is this different from an agency?
- Agencies are valuable partners — craft, production, and channel expertise we want in the room. We sit inside your company as the marketing executive: the plan, the priorities, and the commercial decisions. Together, the work has an owner and a partner.
- What is the $350 advisory hour?
- One working hour on a specific problem. Not a pitch. You bring the stuck thing; we come with a point of view. You leave with next moves and written notes. If you later retain us as fractional CMO, the hour still stands on its own.
- Do you only work in Canada?
- We are based in Toronto and know Canadian retail intimately. We also work with North American brands that sell into this market — or want to.
- Can we cancel?
- Yes. The retainer is month to month. If we are not earning the seat, you should not keep paying for it. The advisory hour is a one-time session.
Insights
For founders in the thick of it
Practical writing for food and beverage founders — the kind of thing we would say in the first meeting.
5 min read
What a fractional CMO actually does for a food brand
A senior marketing executive who owns the function — part-time, embedded, accountable — and makes every partner around the table more effective.
4 min read
How to choose a food and beverage marketing partner
Category experience is not a nice-to-have. If they have never sat in a buyer meeting, they will learn on your dime.
4 min read
Fractional executive or full-time CMO?
A practical comparison for founders who are past proof-of-concept and not yet ready for a $200k hire.
6 min read
Surviving the CPG valley of death
Low volume and high cost of sales will drain you before the brand has a chance. Price high. Test small. Do not scale a guess.
Next step
Book a call — or the hour.
Start with a free 30-minute strategy call, or book a one-hour advisory for $350. Tell us where the brand is stuck. We’ll tell you the right next move.
- What we’ll cover: the next 90 days, not a capabilities tour.
- What we won’t do: a pitch deck you didn’t ask for.