Brand New Blueprint by Smoketown

How did Julia Collins, a three-time founder and the only Black woman in history to found a unicorn, create a new venture that channels her passion for joy, food, radical inclusion and regenerative agriculture? Her company, Planet FWD, makes it easier for food brands to create climate friendly products through a software platform that simplifies the search for sustainable, regenerative and climate-friendly ingredients. Planet FWD al...

How did Everytable, a social enterprise in Los Angeles, create a food service business that can solve two persistent symptoms of racism -- food deserts and the wealth gap? When Sam Polk quit his coveted job on Wall Street, he watched a Netflix documentary about poverty and food that lit a fire...eventually leading to Everytable, a brilliant restaurant chain in South L.A. Everytable has figured out how to sell high quality, incredib...

How did a Chobani Incubator brand, founded by a single mother who serves in the military, start out as a promise to the founder's daughter and become a rising star in the plant-based dairy scene? Thereasa Black carries a heavier load than most of us can imagine. She could be redeployed to a combat zone at any moment. She’s raising a preschooler by herself. All while navigating the challenges of managing a gelato shop and build...

How did a plant-based food brand expand from farmer's markets to every Chipotle and thousands of grocery stores by focusing on quality, innovation and empathy for its employees? Minh Tsai, Founder & CEO of Hodo Foods, quietly built one of the most influential food brands in the U.S. by channeling the empathy that he learned as a Vietnamese refugee. In this episode, Minh shares how his mission-driven company combined "...

What's fueling the runaway success of Good Eggs in e-commerce, and how does it decide which brands to sell? In our second conversation with CEO Bentley Hall, he shares the company's turnaround story, including the blueprint that's driving their obsessive focus on "absurdly fresh groceries" in northern California. Beyond the company's strategy, he lays out the specific criteria that any brand needs to a...

How could an e-commerce company double in size in just 120 days and still anticipate more growth? That's what Bentley Hall is experiencing as CEO of Good Eggs, an online grocery retailer that has become a rocket ship since COVID-19. In this episode, the first of two parts, Bentley shares how his purpose-driven company kept up with "infinite" demand growth and why he's betting that these changes in shopping behav...

What happens when a company’s social mission is so clear, so all-in, that it actually leads to a breakthrough? That’s what happened for Tim McCollum, founder and CEO of Beyond Good (formerly called Madécasse), a chocolate company committed to improving livelihoods in Madagascar. But that commitment led to an amazing discovery that helped the brand get to a new level.

See below for what you'll learn in this episode. Te...

What happens when Jay-Z becomes an early investor in your company? For Denise Woodard, founder and CEO of the allergen-free cookie startup Partake Foods, the answer was simple: she stayed scrappy. During this episode, Denise offers a masterclass in scrappiness -- from selling her wedding ring to fulfilling hundreds of Amazon orders in her living room to making deliveries around New York City in her SUV.

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How does a brand drive epic levels of velocity and loyalty with zero venture capital investment? Many founders assume that equity investment is the only way forward...but most of them will struggle to successfully close a round. With a severe recession looming, fundraising will be harder than ever. That's why this conversation with Sadie Scheffer is so valuable. She is the Founder & CEO of Bread SRSLY, a gluten-free sourdo...

How did a beverage start-up generate so much momentum that it closed a $10 million round of financing after just one year on the market? In this episode, part one of a two part conversation, David Lester explains that OLIPOP, a sparkling tonic that tastes exactly like soda, is actually their second attempt to disrupt the soda category. He and co-founder Ben Goodwin tried nearly seven years ago with a probiotic soda called Obi.
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What does it take to disrupt a gigantic category like soda? In this episode, part two of a two part series, OLIPOP's co-founder David Lester breaks down how the team created a wildly successful brand that looks like soda, tastes like soda, and yet somehow is nothing like soda. His story includes OLIPOP's lessons and missteps, plus advice from David's years leading innovation at Diageo.

See below for what you...

How do you achieve over 4,000% growth with a niche product mostly known for Indian cooking? In this episode of Brand New Blueprint, find out how Raquel Tavares and her team at 4th & Heart built the #4 fastest growing food/bev company in the country...and in one of the most unlikely product segments: ghee.

Here's what you'll learn from this episode:

* How positioning can reframe a brand from niche to staple

* Ho...

What is the disruptive potential of America's new, record-breaking level of diversity? For Ibraheem Basir, one of those implications is clear: As the country's racial and ethnic make-up shifts, consumers will demand more cultural authenticity from the food they eat.  That core thesis led to the creation of A Dozen Cousins, an award-winning brand of ready-to-eat beans that's poised to become a formidable platform for ...

How do you create a new category? In our second conversation with John Foraker, he explains how Once Upon A Farm is creating the fresh baby food category. Just 18 months into the journey, the brand has already tripled velocities and expanded distribution by 30X. What's the blueprint? Learn how this start-up built its sell-in story for retailers, uncovered critical consumer insights, and figured out how to explain its benefits ...

When John Foraker and actress Jennifer Garner joined Once Upon A Farm, a fresh baby food start-up, guess what they did first? They created its mission and values. In this episode, the first of two with John, he explains why creating a clear mission has been pivotal for every company he's led, including lessons that you can apply to your own brand. For both Annie's, Inc., and Once Upon A Farm, their missions not only solid...

When Zak Normandin founded Dirty Lemon, a beverage brand with celebrity fans, he and his team broke every rule. High price, no retail distribution, experimental ingredients. Dirty Lemon even bought a technology company best known for weather forecasts. But it's working...extremely well. Coca Cola led the most recent $15 million fundraising round for Dirty Lemon's parent company, Iris Nova.

In this episode, Zak, C...

Sheryl O'Loughlin is the CEO of REBBL, a functional beverage brand that was created, literally from day one, to defeat human trafficking. But, before REBBL, she had walked away from leading CPG companies forever. Learn how Sheryl is building the most impressive Benefit Corp in the CPG industry -- but doing it very differently than Clif Bar and Plum Organics, both of which she previously led as CEO.

Sheryl is also an a...