Behind every successful food and beverage brand is a founder who understands their numbers. In this masterclass, Melissa Ciana and Annie Carlon of Acru Solutions will take the mystery out of financial reporting so you can run your business with confidence, clarity, and control.

With experience managing over $1B in revenue across 200+ clients in retail, beauty, CPG, and beyond, Acru specializes in helping founders transform financial chaos into actionable insights. Melissa and Annie will guide you through:

Format: 60–75 minute masterclass for early-stage F&B founders, featuring a lecture-style session, interactive Q&A, and a practical post-event assignment.

Takeaway: You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of your financial foundations and a ready-to-use tool to model your own P&L, forecast cash flow, and track the metrics that matter most.

Acru Solutions was founded by Melissa Ciana and Annie Carlon to help entrepreneurs simplify their financial foundations and scale with confidence. Today, Acru manages over $1B in revenue for 200+ clients across retail, beauty, CPG, tech, fitness, and media. Their full-spectrum services span accounting, business taxes, cash planning, data and reporting, and advisory — giving founders clarity on their numbers and control over their growth.

Melissa is a hands-on accounting, finance and operations executive with 20+ years of experience helping start up and growth companies create the financial infrastructure to influence decision-making and maximize sales in highly competitive spaces. Melissa also brings 20+ years of certified public accounting expertise in the preparation of financial reporting and tax filings. She’s currently a partner at Acru Solutions, whose financial services are tailored to make navigating business easier.​

Annie began her career in franchising, starting the first financial support department dedicated to franchisee profitability. Together with Kevin Meurer, she founded Abaci Financial in 2010, packaging accounting services to multi-unit clients and custom reporting focused on profitability metrics. In 2014, Abaci was acquired by a larger financial firm where Annie went on to lead the accounting team, helping them to grow to over 150 clients and 55+ staff. Once again looking to start her own company with a renewed focus on client relationships and client profitability, Annie partnered with other like-minded experts to build another amazing team with Acru Solutions.