port, Inside FMCG has identified 10 individuals whose expertise sits precisely in that foundational space. Some are technical specialists working at the intersection of food science and sustainability, others are founders who have built brands through a deep understanding of formulation itself. What unites them is fluency in the craft that turns an idea into a viable product. We call them masters of formulation. In part two, we introduce the brains behind Who Gives a Crap, Pepe Saya, Remedy Drinks, Krinklewood Estate and Jurlique. Bernie Wiley Ddirector of sustainability, Who Gives A Crap In the world of FMCG, sustainability is often presented as a campaign line or packaging cue, but for Bernie Wiley and the team at Who Gives A Crap, it operates as a guiding principle. The toilet-paper brand has built its supply chain around a crucial philosophy: environmental impact must be addressed at the product level, not retrofitted later. “Sustainability is an important part of our business model at Who Gives A Crap and I am proud to say it’s never an afterthought,” Wiley explained to Inside FMCG. The company approaches product development by interrogating the materials themselves, looking at fibre sources, packaging, recyclability, and the water and waste footprint of manufacturing. Transport is the second variable under constant scrutiny. Wiley describes a supply chain that is continually tested for lower impact alternatives, from electric vehicles in final-mile distribution to heavy electric freight trials for bulk logistics. In one recent initiative, the company partnered with New Energy Transport on an Australian-first demonstration run powered entirely by an electric prime mover, moving goods from port to warehouse without diesel. The numbers reveal how technical expertise now sits behind what appears to be a simple consumer product. Across Who Gives A Crap’s supply chain, partners have installed more than 2077 kilowatts of solar capacity, equivalent to roughly 3637 panels generating up to 2,596,000 kilowatt-hours annually, about the energy consumption of 425 Australian homes. Yet scaling sustainably requires trade-offs. Express shipping, a common feature of modern e-commerce logistics, was removed from the company’s delivery model after internal analysis showed its emissions footprint was too high. “The trade-off being that our deliveries may take one or two more days to arrive,” Wiley said. “However, we’ve decided to prioritise emission reductions over convenience, which our customers understand.” For an everyday household product, the strategy reflects a broader shift across FMCG. Expertise in lifecycle analysis, materials science, and logistics modelling is progressively shaping how brands design the ordinary things consumers rarely think about. Pierre Issa Founder, Pepe Saya Butter, at first glance, appears deceptively simple. Cream is churned, the fat separates, and the result is one of the oldest foods in human history. For Pierre Issa, founder of Pepe Saya, however, the process is a microbiological system in which timing, fermentation and repetition determine whether a batch carries depth or merely fat. “We culture our cream for the pure reason of flavouring the fat,” Issa told Inside FMCG. The process begins with fresh cream inoculated with lactic bacteria that converts lactose into lactic acid, lowering the pH to below 4.5. “Essentially, we have just made crème fraiche.” Only after this fermentation stage does the cream move into churning, producing cultured butter and buttermilk, before the butter is kneaded rather than homogenised. Texture and mouthfeel are shaped through further technical decisions. Pepe Saya adds free salt rather than liquid brine, a choice Issa said enhances structure and flavour delivery. These variables form the backbone of a product that now appears in restaurants, airlines and premium retail. Scaling such a product introduces another challenge: freshness. Cultured butter remains sensitive to timing and temperature, and Issa’s approach has been to design production around speed rather than storage. “We work on lead times and we make fresh orders – we do not store for long periods of time,” he explained. Butter destined for Qantas, for example, is produced and delivered within 48 hours. Behind the craft narrative sits a three-part equation: “Pepe Saya Butter is made of three things – the people that make it (craftsmen), the provenance of the milk (the terroir), the cultured butter.” Consistency, Issa insists, comes from experience rather than automation. “Keep making it, keep making it, keep making it – to try to perfect what you are doing. Nothing beats experience.” In an FMCG industry defined by technical specialisation, that repetition may be the most important expertise of all. Steve Byrne Global chief operating officer, Remedy Drinks Inside the Melbourne fermentary where Remedy Drinks brews its kombucha, the work of fermentation is treated like a technical craft. Stainless-steel tanks sit while cultures transform sweetened tea into something far more complex, and it is here that Steve Byrne has spent much of the past decade turning microbial science into a commercial advantage. Byrne, now global COO at Remedy Drinks, joined the business early in its growth story. Initially brought in as a consultant before formally joining the team in 2017, he was tasked with deepening the company’s understanding of fermentation and translating that knowledge into scalable production. This technical brief quickly expanded into something larger. Byrne now oversees global operations, from brewing and manufacturing to supply chain and logistics, helping steer a Melbourne-founded kombucha brand that now reaches consumers around the world. The foundation of that expansion lies in fermentation itself. Remedy’s kombucha relies on a living SCOBY culture – a Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeast – that converts sugar into organic acids and flavour compounds. Managing that culture at scale requires scientific precision and operational discipline in equal measure. “Our fermentation expertise has enabled us to scale production while retaining authenticity and traditional brewing techniques,” Byrne told Inside FMCG. Innovation remains a constant feature of the business, though Byrne is careful to stress that speed cannot come at the expense of scientific discipline. As Remedy enters its next phase of global expansion, Byrne’s role has broadened well beyond fermentation alone. Technical leadership across research and development, manufacturing, and supply chain is now central to the company’s strategy, ensuring the integrable work inside the fermentary continues to translate into growth far beyond it. Valentina Moresco Winemaker, Krinklewood Estate At Krinklewood Estate in the Hunter Valley, the work of winemaking begins long before the grapes ever reach the press. The vineyard, planted on gentle slopes outside the village of Broke, operates under organic and biodynamic certification, a system that requires careful attention not only to the vines but to the entire ecosystem surrounding them. For winemaker Valentina Moresco, whose training in viticulture and oenology began in Piedmont, Italy before bringing her to Australia, the philosophy is simple in principle but complex in execution. When the vineyard is healthy, the wine has little need for intervention. “At Krinklewood, being certified organic and biodynamic means the work really starts in the vineyard,” Moresco explained to Inside FMCG. “The focus is on growing healthy vines and a balanced ecosystem so the fruit arrives at the winery in natural harmony. My role in the winery is, therefore, more about guiding rather than correcting.” Biodynamic farming alters the rhythm of production in subtle but meaningful ways. Where conventional winemaking may rely on additions or adjustments during fermentation, fruit grown in a balanced vineyard often carries the nutrients and microbial life needed for fermentation to proceed naturally. “Biodynamic farming produces fruit with a clear expression of the site,” Moresco said. “When grapes are balanced, fermentation is more straightforward, and I rarely need to add nutrients, as the soil provides plenty, carried through the vine.” The Hunter Valley presents its own challenges. Humidity, summer storms, and variable ripening windows require careful judgement, and precision in the vineyard often determines the final shape of the wine. “My goal is to balance control with responsiveness, listening to what the season and each parcel give us rather than forcing the fruit,” Moresco said. Her technical training remains central to that approach, and in an industry where formulation knowledge often determines commercial success, the work of vineyard observation, fermentation control and careful timing remains one of the most important skills a winemaker can possess. Aline Lerond Global head of product marketing and innovation, Jurlique At Jurlique, formulation begins in the Adelaide Hills, where biodynamic cultivation, harvesting discipline and documentation create the first conditions for consistency. Aline Lerond is the global head of product marketing and innovation at Jurlique International, a brand whose scale has not replaced its origins but required it to become more deliberate, more measurable, and more technically specific. “Botanical science has been central to Jurlique since its inception in the Adelaide Hills in 1985,” Lerond told Inside FMCG. Founded by Ulrike and Jurgen Klein, Jurlique was built on a vision of naturally derived skincare in a market dominated by synthetic ingredients. Working with natural and biodynamic inputs means accepting variability, then engineering around it without stripping the plant of its value. “The primary challenge when working with natural and biodynamic inputs is preserving the full value of the plant from harvest to finished product,” Lerond explained. Those extraction choices are central to the brand’s technical identity, including proprietary Bio-Intrinsic™ extraction and advanced CO₂ processes designed to capture active compounds while maintaining efficacy. For Lerond, the philosophy is explicit. “We work in harmony with nature, whilst applying scientific rigour from seed to skin,” she said. As premium skincare consumers demand stronger proof, clearer sourcing and measurable responsibility, she believes the brands that endure will be those that can substantiate nature through science without diminishing it. The future she describes sits at that intersection, where biodynamic agriculture supplies the raw intelligence, and formulation translates it into products that can travel, perform, and still feel alive on the skin. Originally published in the April edition of Inside FMCG.