Fractional leadership & advisory

Senior leadership for consumer brands, without the full-time hire.

I help CPG and beverage companies navigate growth, strengthen operations, and move strategic priorities forward through hands-on fractional executive leadership and targeted advisory support.

CEOCOOCSOCROCMOAdvisor
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Ryan Ayotte
Ryan AyotteFounder, operator and advisor with deep CPG experience. Every engagement is with me directly, start to finish, and is always focused on results.
Founder & CEO
OhzaOhza

Founded and scaled to eight-figure revenue and #1 RTD mimosa brand by volume in the US. Acquired in 2024.

Co-founder & CEO
RouéRoué

Co-founded with Future. Took it from concept, to custom bottle mold design, to national distribution with Southern Glazer's.

Fractional, board & advisory
Kit NA BrewingKit NA Brewing Orange Bike BrewingOrange Bike Brewing AMASS BrandsAMASS Brands Calirosa TequilaCalirosaTequila Gem + Bolt MezcalGem + BoltMezcal AMASS BotanicsAMASSBotanics BODY VodkaBODYVodka
Results

What I've done, and what it means for your brand

These are numbers from businesses I ran myself. Each one came from a playbook I can bring into yours.

Ohza#1RTD mimosa brand in the U.S., 2021 through exit

Positioning and a velocity story that gets buyers to say yes.

Ohza8-figureannual revenue, then sold to a strategic

A business run with the clean numbers and story an acquirer wants to see.

Ohza35states opened through the three-tier distribution system

A state-by-state expansion plan, with the right distributor in each market.

Ohza150K+DTC orders, with 260K email and 45K SMS subscribers

Build and execute a scalable online business.

OhzaRouéCalirosa3celebrity partner deals: Joe Jonas, Future, and Adam Levine & Behati Prinsloo

I know exactly how to negotiate a celebrity deal, and what works and what doesn't.

Kit NA156%Amazon growth year over year, at breakeven

An Amazon channel that grows without burning cash.

Retail

Retail partners I've worked with

National accounts across grocery, club, mass, natural and convenience, plus arenas and stadiums, won with an in-house sales team.

Walmart
Costco
Whole Foods Market
Amazon
Albertsons
Safeway
H-E-B
Wegmans
Meijer
Circle K
BevMo!
Gopuff
Dodger Stadium
TD Garden
Barclays Center
MGM Grand Garden Arena

Plus thousands of independent retailers.

The roles

Five seats. I've sat in each one.

Most emerging brands need one or two of these seats covered well before they can afford to fill all five. I've owned the responsibilities of each of them in my own companies, so I can step in wherever you need it most. I also advise, either alongside a team that's already in place or after a fractional role wraps up.

CEO
Chief Executive Officer

Strategy, the P&L, the board and the exit

See where I've done it

Where I've done it: founded Ohza and ran it for five years with full P&L ownership, raised capital, reported to investors, and sold the company to a mid-market strategic in 2024.

  • Annual plan and P&L
  • Board and investor reporting
  • Support on capital raises, alongside the founders
  • Exit prep and sale process
COO
Chief Operating Officer

Systems and processes that hold up as the company grows

See where I've done it

Where I've done it: ran operations at Ohza as it scaled to 35 states, 15 full-time employees and dozens of contractors, and at Roué took a fully custom bottle from mold to bottling line while running forecasting, modeling and the day-to-day workflows on AI tools. I put a process behind everything, so the business doesn't depend on any one person remembering how it works.

  • Documented processes and clear ownership for every function
  • Forecasting, S&OP and inventory planning
  • Suppliers, co-packers and bottlers
  • KPIs, operating cadence and reporting
  • Tools and automation that scale with headcount
CSO
Chief Strategy Officer

Portfolio, category and deal strategy

See where I've done it

Where I've done it: advised AMASS Brands on the buy side of its Calirosa Tequila acquisition, then set portfolio strategy and led integration across its four-brand spirits division. Before that, diligence and investment cases at Bain Capital.

  • Portfolio and innovation strategy
  • Market sizing and business cases
  • Acquisitions, diligence and integration
  • Which channels and markets to chase, and which to pass on
CRO
Chief Revenue Officer

Your sales organization, route to market, key accounts, pricing and trade

See where I've done it

Where I've done it: built Ohza's in-house sales team from scratch and had it calling on accounts directly. Opened 35 states one market at a time, picked and negotiated with the distributor in each, and won Walmart, Costco, Whole Foods and H‑E‑B. Then took the brand into nine arenas and stadiums.

  • Standing up and developing your sales organization: hiring, territories, targets and coaching
  • Three-tier distribution strategy
  • Distributor selection and negotiation
  • National and key accounts
  • Pricing, trade budget and promo calendar
  • Foodservice and on-premise
CMO
Chief Marketing Officer

Brand, paid media, DTC, retention and talent partnerships

See where I've done it

Where I've done it: ran $1M+ a year in marketing at Ohza and bought the media and wrote the ads myself. Built DTC to 150K+ orders and 260K email subscribers, and launched a co-branded sangria line with Joe Jonas.

  • Brand positioning
  • Paid social and creative testing
  • DTC, email and SMS
  • Amazon, Walmart.com and TikTok Shop
  • Celebrity and talent partnerships
Advisor
Strategic advisor

Guidance for a team that's already in place, or after a fractional role ends

See where I've done it

Where I've done it: buy-side advisor to AMASS Brands through the Calirosa deal and the integration after it, board member at Kit NA Brewing and Orange Bike Brewing, and Mentor-in-Residence at the Roux Institute.

  • Setting direction with your existing leadership
  • Staying on to support the full-time hire after a fractional role
  • Laying out the plan: priorities, owners and timing
  • Board and investor prep
  • A second set of eyes on the big calls
Selected work

The work behind it

Four brands across the full life of a consumer company: building one from a formulation, launching one with a celebrity partner, buying one, and running one as fractional CEO.

Founder & CEO · Acquired

Ohza

Ohza Classic Mimosa, Mango Mimosa, Cranberry Mimosa and Classic Bellini cans on ice
Ohza Fizzy White Sangria and Fizzy Red Sangria cans with fruit
Ohza box truck wrapped with 'the original canned mimosa' and a hand holding a can of Classic Mimosa

The original ready-to-drink mimosa. I took it from just an idea to the #1 RTD mimosa brand in the U.S., and sold the company to a mid-market strategic in 2024.

  • Owned the P&L and ran sales and brand marketing myself, with an in-house sales team calling on accounts directly.
  • Opened 35 states through the three-tier distribution system one market at a time. Picked and negotiated with the distributor in each, and passed on states that didn't make sense.
  • Set pricing and pack architecture by channel, owned the trade budget and retailer promo calendars, read every event in Nielsen and SPINS, and cut the promotions that didn't pay back.
  • Built a fully compliant DTC channel from scratch to 150K+ orders, including a subscription program, then added Walmart.com and TikTok Shop.
  • Sold Levy and Aramark to place the brand in nine arenas and stadiums, including Dodger Stadium and TD Garden.
  • Recruited Joe Jonas as co-brand partner on a sangria line and took it from concept to national distribution.
  • Hired and led a team of 15 full-time employees, plus dozens of contractors, across sales, marketing, operations and creative.
Co-founder & CEO · Exited

Roué

Roué Sauvignon Blanc in its custom faceted bottle
Packaging
Custom molds
assets/roue-packaging.jpg
Future holding a bottle of Roué at the launch
Launch
With Future
assets/roue-launch.jpg

A premium wine and RTD brand co-founded with Grammy-winning artist Future, built for multicultural consumers who wanted a trade-up option the category wasn't offering.

  • Owned strategy, the P&L and daily operations from day one.
  • Sourced the wine and built the brand identity from scratch.
  • Developed a fully custom packaging system: bottle design, manufacturer sourcing, custom molds and bottling-line tooling.
  • Negotiated national distribution with Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits.
  • Ran forecasting, financial modeling, ad management and the operating workflows on AI tools.
Futureco-founder, Grammy-winning artist
SGWSnational distribution agreement
Custombottle, molds and line tooling
Buy-side advisor · M&A and integration

AMASS Brands

The AMASS spirits portfolio: AMASS gin and vodka, Calirosa Tequila, BODY Vodka and Gem & Bolt Mezcal
AMASS Brands Group
The spirits portfolio
Calirosa, AMASS Botanics, Gem + Bolt, BODY
assets/amass-portfolio.jpg

Advised AMASS on its acquisition of Calirosa Tequila, the brand founded by Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo, then set the strategy for what came after the deal.

  • Worked the buy side of the Calirosa acquisition.
  • Set portfolio strategy for the combined spirits division.
  • Led integration across the division's four brands.
Calirosa TequilaAMASS BotanicsGem + Bolt MezcalBODY Vodka
Fractional CEO & board member

Kit NA Brewing

Rows of Kit Non-Alc Hazy IPA cans
Kit NA Brewing
Non-alcoholic craft beer
assets/kit-cans.jpg

A non-alcoholic craft brewery in Portland. As fractional CEO and a board member, I was hands-on across the business, and the team had a seasoned executive in the work with them. That confidence showed up everywhere else.

  • Increased EBITDA 46%.
  • Built a new five-year roadmap for the company.
  • Negotiated a new co-packer agreement that better matches what the business needs.
  • Lifted rate of sale 8% through trade and brand marketing programs.
  • Expanded the partnerships the business depends on, including co-branded products that are set to generate a 65% revenue lift in 2027.
  • Grew Amazon 156% year over year at breakeven, after rebuilding the listings and ads and resetting pricing, promotions and inventory planning.
How it works

Four ways to work together

Every engagement is built around one role and a clear definition of what I own. Terms and cadence get worked out on the first call.

Ongoing

Fractional

Ongoing, in one seat. We agree on a monthly rate and a rough sense of the hours behind it, but I don't work off a timesheet. When something comes up, I'm on it, so nothing in the business waits on me.

Common for: a founder who needs a CRO or COO but isn't ready to hire one full time.

Bridge

Interim

Full time for a defined stretch, covering a seat while you hire for it or through a transition, with a handoff plan for whoever takes it next.

Common for: a leader leaving mid-year, or a board that wants steady hands during a raise.

Finish line

Project

One push with a clear end. A new-state or distributor launch, a capital raise, a sale process, an Amazon turnaround.

Common for: a specific milestone the team doesn't have the reps for yet.

Beside the team

Advisory

For a team that's already in place, or to stay involved after a fractional role ends. Your leaders run their functions, and I help set direction, lay out the plan and pressure-test the big calls.

Common for: a company that just made the full-time hire and wants continuity, or a strong team that wants an experienced operator in the room.

1

Intro call

Thirty minutes on where the business is and which seat is open. If I'm not the right person for it, I'll tell you.

2

Scope

We agree on what I own, a monthly rate, and what a good first 90 days looks like.

3

In the seat

I work inside your team and your tools, report to you or the board every month, and build things that keep running after I step back.

Who it's for

Founder-led CPG and beverage brands, anywhere in the U.S., usually somewhere between first real distribution and the first conversation about selling. Alcohol, non-alc, food and better-for-you.

Ryan Ayotte
Portrait
Ryan Ayotte
assets/ryan-portrait.jpg
About

An operator first

I grew up in Massachusetts and studied finance at Northeastern's D'Amore-McKim School of Business. I started as an analyst at Goldman Sachs, then ran sales, marketing, the P&L and new product development at North Point Brands, an early-stage CPG brand house, and figured out I'd much rather own an outcome than analyze one. I went back to finance as an associate at Bain Capital, sizing markets and running diligence on consumer and healthcare deals, to save up enough to start my own company.

I launched Ohza in 2019, quit my job the day the first wholesaler signed, and spent five years building it into a national brand before selling it. Then I co-founded Roué with Future and built a wine brand from the bottle mold up. Along the way I learned the unglamorous parts of this business the hard way: distributor negotiations, trade spend that doesn't pay back, co-packer schedules, and a forecast that has to be right because the cash is already spent.

I've made the calls you're about to make, with my own money on the line.

Today I live in Portland, Maine. I sit on the boards of Kit NA Brewing and Orange Bike Brewing, and I'm a Mentor-in-Residence at the Roux Institute at Northeastern.

Get in touch

Tell me which seat is open.

A few lines on the business and what you need is plenty. I'll come back with times for an intro call.

Emailryan@cribstoneconsulting.co
LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/ryanayotte
Based inPortland, Maine. Working with brands across the U.S.
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