Matt Rodbard & Elly Truesdell

Eye Level

About the show

Behind every product in the grocery store is a founder, a buyer, and a bet. On Eye Level, journalist Matt Rodbard and grocery expert and investor Elly Truesdell make sense of the brands, trends, and people shaping how America actually eats. Each episode pairs industry analysis with a lively conversation featuring someone moving the business forward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Newest episodes

Athletic Brewing and Writing the New Rules of Beer with Bill Shufelt

Nov 5, 2026 1 hr 15 min

Athletic Brewing is the best-selling nonalcoholic craft beer brand in the United States, and founder and CEO Bill Shufelt is spending 2026 pushing it into places beer has traditionally owned. Matt talks with Bill about where Athletic is growing now: grocery shelves, bars and restaurants, and the NFL, where the brand is the nonalcoholic partner of MetLife Stadium, the New York Giants, and the New York Jets, with Drake Maye and Dak Prescott signed on as athlete-owners. Bill also gets into how Athletic keeps its product pipeline fresh, why the company just hired a career alcohol marketer as CMO, and what he’s learned about scaling, raising capital, and defending a category leader now that the big brewers have shown up to the NA party. But first, Elly and Matt talk about the state of nonalcoholic beer, wine, aperitivo, and everything in between. They also give their thoughts on two products: Baris chocolate-dipped frozen raspberries and Pretzelized. A pretzel and pita chip hybrid. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify Subscribe: Eye Level: The Newsletter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Protein vs. Everybody with Peter Rahal

Oct 29, 2026 1 hr 2 min

On today’s show, we have Peter Rahal in the studio. Peter is the founder and CEO of David Protein, the protein company that has become one of the buzziest and fastest-growing brands in food. Peter previously cofounded RXBAR, famously building the brand around its radically simple packaging and ingredient list before selling the company to Kellogg’s for $600 million. In 2024, he came back to the category with David, with a value proposition built around protein. Today we talk about what Peter learned from building and selling RXBAR and what inspired him to get into the category again. We get into his obsession with product and nutrition, his very distinctive approach to marketing, and what Peter thinks of GLP-1s. What does David’s explosive growth tell us about where the American diet is heading next? We talk about all of this as well as Peter’s exceptional track record and so much more. But first, Elly and Matt talk about their big plans for this very new show. They also give their thoughts on a couple products in the market, Wild Monkey and Riff. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify Follow us: eyelevel.cpg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.