by Jeff Slater | Jun 28, 2026 | Foodpreneurs, Marketing Advice
How Kirsten Maitland and Fred Zwar built something the food industry said couldn’t be done Everyone in the food business had the same advice for Kirsten Maitland and Fred Zwar. It was delivered with authority, sometimes with pity, always with the same basic...
by Jeff Slater | Jun 21, 2026 | Foodpreneurs, Marketing Advice
The Surprising Origin Story Behind One of Specialty Retail’s Favorite Popcorn Brands Some of the best brand origin stories start with a memory, not a business plan. For Ginger Frank, it was popcorn. Growing up, popcorn wasn’t a snack. It was a...
by Jeff Slater | Jun 14, 2026 | Foodpreneurs
How the founder of Nana Joes Granola learned to trust her own instincts and quiet confidence as she built something. There is a black-and-white photograph on every bag of Nana Joes Granola. It shows two young people laughing after a home-cooked meal, taken in...
by Jeff Slater | May 10, 2026 | Foodpreneurs, Marketing Advice
Venmathy McMahan has a PhD in chemical engineering from Rice University. She spent years at Intel optimizing semiconductor processes. And then, in 2020, she bought a granola company. Not as a side project. Not as a passive investment. She bought Little Red Wagon...
by Jeff Slater | Apr 26, 2026 | Foodpreneurs, Marketing Advice
Every founder I work with can tell me why their brand matters. They have a story. A cause. A conviction about what’s wrong with the category and why they’re the ones to fix it. That clarity of purpose is real, and it’s valuable. But here’s what...
by Jeff Slater | Apr 12, 2026 | Foodpreneurs, Marketing Advice
Why food and beverage brands should take foodservice seriously Most food and beverage brands treat retail as the finish line. Get on a shelf at Whole Foods or land a regional chain, and you’ve made it. Foodservice, if it comes up at all, gets dismissed as...
