Darren Alpert

Overview

Darren Alpert is the founder and CEO of Gheelish, the ghee-based snack company that calls into Advice Line with Ben Goodwin of Olipop.

Current Profile

Alpert appears as a food founder who already has meaningful wholesale traction but is still working out how to explain an unfamiliar ingredient to mainstream shoppers. His case turns founder enthusiasm for ghee into a sharper packaging and customer-conversion problem.

Key Characteristics

• Founder and CEO of Gheelish in Raleigh.
• Built early demand from homemade samples rather than from a DTC-first model.
• Won nationwide Sprouts placement after a cold email.
• Raised money from Gary Vaynerchuk and from friends and family.
• Asks how to educate shoppers about ghee without losing the simple reason to buy the snack.

Evidence

• Founder role - Advice Line with Ben Goodwin of Olipop identifies Alpert as Gheelish’s founder and CEO.
• Early channel path - Advice Line with Ben Goodwin of Olipop says he started with homemade samples, cold-emailed Sprouts, and later reached about 4,000 stores.
• Capital and growth - Advice Line with Ben Goodwin of Olipop reports friends-and-family funding and Gary Vaynerchuk investment alongside the company’s sales figures.
• Advice question - Advice Line with Ben Goodwin of Olipop records his question about educating consumers who know ghee mainly as clarified butter.

Qualifications

Alpert’s profile is limited to his role in the episode. The wiki does not independently verify Gheelish’s financials, store count, or funding history.

What Changed

• Initial profile records Alpert as the Gheelish founder whose question grounds the front-pack conversion concept.

Relationships

• Gheelish - company he founded and leads.
• Ben Goodwin - advisor who pushes the brand toward taste-led customer conversion.
• Front-Pack Conversion Education - concept derived from his ghee education question.
• Taste-First CPG Positioning - broader CPG positioning frame applied to his brand.
• Founder Pitch Evidence Fit - adjacent founder-story principle because his ingredient story needs to translate into customer value.