If you’ve been following along with TPB for some time now, you’ve probably picked up that I’m a little more on the touchy-feely side of things and less about pure “hustle culture.”
But that doesn’t mean that I’m against ambition and working as hard as you want for your dreams. In fact, that’s one of the biggest takeaways I get from every conversation with these incredible founders on the pod. It’s not about trying less, but about trying your best and being a good person while you’re at it.
And lately, we’ve seen a good number of folks who want to be the best but aren’t being so kind about it in pop culture (hello, Oscars shade!). That’s why I was really chuffed to speak with Eric Skae, cofounder and CEO behind the iconic Carbone Fine Food brand.
Eric teamed up with Major Food Group’s Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi, and Jeff Zalaznick to bring the flavors of the almost-impossible-to-get-into restaurant to your kitchen. Their pasta sauce really is my go-to now.
And as you listen to my conversation with Eric, he really has the mentality of a competitive athlete. As he says, he’s always looking forward, never back. But he does it with honesty, kindness, and conviction that the brand is going to win its category. And a guy in this position did not need to engage with my comments or messages on LinkedIn! He did it because he genuinely likes to connect with others.
Fun fact about me: I was a competitive swimmer up until college, adding in some track in high school. I never went to state. I didn’t set any records. In fact, one season, I couldn’t compete at all as I recovered from shoulder surgery, mostly swimming on my back. But I always showed up and put my best into every practice.
And if you want to be the best in your category, if you want to win and be on top, I really believe in you. Below, you’ll learn about one of the most important muscles you need to flex over and over again to build momentum: your storytelling flywheel.
I believe in shooting for the moon, the stars, or wherever you want to go (even to a planet far away with Rocky, my Project Hail Mary stans!). Just make sure you’re staying true to yourself and always, always do it with love and kindness to others.
Eric Skae’s Perfect Bite
In just five years, Eric Skae has helped Carbone Fine Food become the fastest growing pasta sauce brand in America. His incredible background in CPG, including his own iced tea brand and a stint at Rao’s to make that the number one pasta sauce brand in the country, made him the perfect person for Mario Carbone and the Major Food Group team to call when it came time to put sauce on shelves.
I loved chatting with Eric and learning about his mentality behind pushing this iconic brand forward into our pantries. He tasted Every. Single. Batch in the first year. He still taste tests every month to make sure the quality is consistent across all flavors. Eric and the Carbone team are here to win—and do it deliciously!
This was one of the most informative conversations we’ve had yet on TPB. I love learning from folks who have had so many “lives” within their careers, all leading up to these special roles and moments.
And even if you can’t get a reservation at the eponymous New York resto, you can have a piece of sexy, cool New York Italian with you at all times. Just crack open a jar!
🎧 Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts
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📺 Watch the episode on YouTube
Find Carbone Fine Food:
Website: carbonefinefood.com
Available at most major retailers nationwide
Instagram: @carbonefinefood
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Storytelling Secret Ingredient: Building Your Flywheel
Eric didn't build Carbone Fine Food by waiting for the right moment or chasing the right trend. He built a flywheel with PR, events, and social, and then worked it relentlessly and consistently until it started generating its own momentum.
Ten billion PR impressions in a year didn't happen by accident. It happened because every piece of content, every event, every partnership fed directly back into the same machine.
And crucially, he owns that machine. He's not handing the brand's story to outside advertisers or influencers and hoping for the best. His team is designing every touchpoint themselves and making sure it's unapologetically, authentically Carbone.
Your flywheel only works if you own what goes into it. Consistency without authenticity is just noise. Authenticity without consistency never builds momentum.
Here’s how to build your own storytelling flywheel:
Identify your flywheel pillars: Eric's are PR, events, and social, and they were chosen deliberately because they all feed each other. A great event generates PR. PR drives social conversation. Social amplifies the next event. Before you can build a flywheel, you need to identify which channels are most natural to your brand and most likely to create that same circular momentum. For a food founder at farmers markets, it might be sampling, community, and content. For a CPG brand, it might be retail, press, and partnerships. The pillars will be different for everyone, but they have to connect.
Own your message before you amplify it: A big mistake founders make is outsourcing their story before they've fully figured out what it is. Carbone's flywheel is built on authenticity, and that authenticity has to come from inside the brand, not from a paid partnership or an influencer who happened to say yes. Know your story cold before you hand it to anyone else to tell.
Choose depth over breadth Eric tried CTV advertising and walked away from it. Awareness went up, but because awareness doesn't sell jars when you're still building, he made the deliberate choice to go deep on the channels where Carbone's story could land most authentically rather than spreading thin across everything. Your flywheel needs fuel. Put it where it counts most right now, not everywhere at once.
Storytelling secret ingredient: Hone your flywheel. Own your messaging, work your channels consistently, and let the momentum do the rest.
Momentum Machines
These F&B brands have mastered their flywheels and own their messaging, resulting in momentum we can all aspire to.
Entertaining with Beth: Friend of the pod Beth Le Manach learned through years of trial and error exactly which content formats and topics work on which platforms. She built a flywheel where her iconic YouTube channel, Substack, and social all feed each other so intentionally that each new piece of content makes the last one work harder. Listen to my chat with Beth here!
Red Bull: Pulling this directly from my chat with Eric, Red Bull built the ultimate flywheel: Own your events, own your content, own your culture. Nobody tells the Red Bull story except Red Bull, which means customers aren’t slipping through the cracks to outside partners.
MAJC.ai: Launched by Chef Matt Jennings and tech guru Andy Coughlin, MAJC is an awesome platform and community for hospitality folks to connect with one another, share their issues, and be provided with resources by experts in the field. The MAJC team has built an excellent flywheel to build the community through their virtual events only on the platform, their multiple podcasts, and their social. You can listen to my episode with Matt here!
Thanks so much for being part of The Perfect Bite’s journey and supporting these founders’ stories. Feel free to respond to any of these messages with thoughts on how I can improve my storytelling in the future or if you have any guest ideas!
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