Whether you have a delicious idea that you want to turn into a real business, or you have a small food brand and want to grow it, Food Business Success is here to help you create a profitable packaged food business. Sari Kimbell, the creator of Food Business Success® offers you valuable insights, practical tools and step-by-step help to launch or grow your business as well as ideas to help you become the badass entrepreneur running your dream business. Together, let's make your food business dream real!
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November 3, 20263 min
Building Brand Love
Send us Fan Mail Why do some food brands get fierce, loyal fans while others get tried once and forgotten? It’s rarely about the actual product. In this episode of Small Bites, Stephanie shares how to lay the foundation for building real brand love: solve a real problem, stay consistent at every touchpoint, be easy to find again and again, engage like a human, and listen when customers talk. And, grab our Touchpoint Check Sheet and see where your brand is working and find possible areas to fix. 👋We're Food Business Success®. We mentor early-stage founders with real coaching, strategy, tools, and systems to help them avoid common pitfalls and build a brand that lasts. We're also home to the Launch & Grow Accelerator. [ Learn more about coaching ] | [ Explore Launch & Grow ] NEW for YOU! We've completely revised our Launch & Grow Accelerator with a full update for 2026. Grab your m...
October 20, 2026Episode 29836 min
Ep 268 Teach the World to Love Your Brand
Send us Fan Mail Stephanie talks with Diana Panek, Senior Creative Director at Enthuse Marketing, a woman-owned agency focused on education-led marketing. Diana has spent 15+ years on packaging, shopper programs, and in-store campaigns for major spirits and consumer brands. Diana shares her path from fine art to design to marketing, and explains why education-led marketing is about building brand love, not giving a lecture. Give people what they need at each touch point, and they become advocates. 🔑 Key takeaways 🎯 Know your audience, where they are, and what makes your brand different. Describe it in your own voice. ✂️ Say less. Pick a lane, build a hierarchy, and remember that if everything’s bold, nothing’s bold. 🤝 Consistency builds trust, from digital to shelf to unboxing. 💰 On a small budget, pick one or two touch points and do them well. 👀 Step back, squint, and test your packaging on a real shelf. Veer with intention. 🤖 Use AI as a junior helper, not the decision maker. Ask it to poke holes, then rewrite everything in your own voice. Diana closes with this: choose about three core brand elements, stay consistent, and play on social. Creativity is never messed up, you’re just finding a different solution. 🔗 Links Enthuse Marketing: https://www.enthuse-marketing.com/ Enthuse Foundation, which supports women entrepreneurs with grants and other resources: https://www.enthusefoundation.org/ 🧡 About Food Business Success We’re Food Business Success®. We mentor early-stage founders with real coaching, strategy, tools, and systems to help them avoid common pitfalls and build a brand that lasts. We’re also home to the Launch & Grow Accelerator. [ Learn more about coaching ] | [ Explore Launch & Grow ] Classes + Coaching + Community 👋We're Food Business Success®. We mentor early-stage founders with real coaching, strategy, tools, and systems to help them avoid common pitfalls and build a brand that lasts. We're also home to the Launch & Grow Accelerator. [ Learn more about coaching ] | [ Explore Launch & Grow ] NEW for YOU! We've completely revised our Launch & Grow Accelerator with a full update for 2026. Grab your m...
October 6, 20264 min
Small Bites with Stephanie | 4 Steps For A Holiday Bundle That Sells
Send us Fan Mail Want more holiday sales without launching something new? In this Small Bites episode, Stephanie walks you through creating an easy holiday bundle, tying it to Black Friday, and selling through the network you already have. And you can grab the free Holiday Bundle Planner to map it all out. Grab your planner -->> https://www.foodbizsuccess.com/Holiday-Bundle-download 👋We're Food Business Success®. We mentor early-stage founders with real coaching, strategy, tools, and systems to help them avoid common pitfalls and build a brand that lasts. We're also home to the Launch & Grow Accelerator. [ Learn more about coaching ] | [ Explore Launch & Grow ] NEW for YOU! We've completely revised our Launch & Grow Accelerator with a full update for 2026. Grab your m...
September 29, 2026Episode 26730 min
Ep 267 9 Questions To Ask Your Packaging Supplier
Send us Fan Mail Sustainable packaging sounds simple until you're the one trying to figure out what "sustainable" actually means for your product. In this episode, Peter Mohr, Director of Business Development at Eco Enclose, sits down with Stephanie, breaks it all down. Peter has spent nearly a decade in packaging after starting his career running Naturally Boulder. Together, Peter and Stephanie get into the real questions founders should be asking their packaging suppliers, from material thickness to certifications to what happens at end of life. And it's not always obvious or easy to navigate. They discuss why compostable isn't always the win it sounds like, how post-consumer recycled content works, and, most importantly, how the right questions can lower your costs and your environmental impact at the same time. And, here they are... The 9 questions to ask your packaging supplier: Does my product actually need this material? Do I need all of this material in my package? Can we go thinner on the film (say, 4.5 mil down to 3.5 mil)? Can we go lighter on the board (say, 22-point down to 18-point)? Can you provide certification for that? What is the package made out of? Do you have the certifications to back that up? Are there more sustainable or environmentally friendly alternatives? What does the end of life look like for this package? 👋We're Food Business Success®. We mentor early-stage founders with real coaching, strategy, tools, and systems to help them avoid common pitfalls and build a brand that lasts. We're also home to the Launch & Grow Accelerator. [ Learn more about coaching ] | [ Explore Launch & Grow ] NEW for YOU! We've completely revised our Launch & Grow Accelerator with a full update for 2026. Grab your m...
September 22, 20263 min
Small Bites with Stephanie | Pick a Channel, Not a Chase
Send us Fan Mail When's the last time you chose a growth channel, Amazon, a new retailer, DTC, because it was genuinely the right move for your brand? Not because an opportunity happened to land in your inbox? Most first-time founders are reactive with channel growth. Chasing opportunity wherever it shows up feels productive, but without a strategy behind it, you're often not ready for what comes next. In this episode, Stephanie breaks down the three things a real channel strategy comes down to: Define the actual goal. "More sales" isn't a goal, it's a given. Get specific: grow your email list, increase repeat buys on Amazon, boost sell-through on shelf. Audit what's already in place. Find the gaps, then double down on what's working and fix what isn't. Track the KPIs that actually matter. Don't get fooled by vanity metrics like follower counts. Engagement is what counts. Small Bites with Stephanie delivers one quick, useful lesson at a time from three decades in CPG. No lectures, no workbooks, just something you can use. 👋We're Food Business Success®. We mentor early-stage founders with real coaching, strategy, tools, and systems to help them avoid common pitfalls and build a brand that lasts. We're also home to the Launch & Grow Accelerator. [ Learn more about coaching ] | [ Explore Launch & Grow ] NEW for YOU! We've completely revised our Launch & Grow Accelerator with a full update for 2026. Grab your m...
September 15, 2026Episode 26637 min
EP 266 Sari & Meg of Bifrost Butters
Send us Fan Mail Meet Meg Wittenmeyer of Bifrost Butters. She and her husband Joel founded this chef-inspired compound butter brand in 2024. Meg shares a fantastic year of momentum with Sari that includes reworking their packaging from hand-wrapped logs to premium paper tubes with designer Christopher, landing their first big retail goal at Kowalski's stores after placements in two other retailers, and exhibiting at the Fancy Food Show in NYC, which was key to some of those placements. She's also proud to share that Bifrost was named a Shelfie Awards finalist. Meg digs into their production scale-up and what it takes to stay self-manufactured on their family farm. One of the biggest takeaways: the repeated hard calls around packaging, pricing, distribution, and capacity got a lot easier with FBS coaching and the Fuel founder community behind her. 👋We're Food Business Success®. We mentor early-stage founders with real coaching, strategy, tools, and systems to help them avoid common pitfalls and build a brand that lasts. We're also home to the Launch & Grow Accelerator. [ Learn more about coaching ] | [ Explore Launch & Grow ] NEW for YOU! We've completely revised our Launch & Grow Accelerator with a full update for 2026. Grab your m...
September 1, 2026Episode 26534 min
EP 265 Sari Pink Sojourn Summary and Social
Send us Fan Mail Don't just replace your salary, dream big. In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Sari on her six-month "Pink Sojourn" since leaving Denver in May, using her farmers market and coaching business as proof that entrepreneurs can build systems and let go of control instead of staying place-bound. The team unpack what makes this possible... years of small steps, embracing "B-minus" work over perfectionism, and CEO-level thinking instead of micromanaging. And, they close with a shared message: don't settle, go build the life you actually want. 👋We're Food Business Success®. We mentor early-stage founders with real coaching, strategy, tools, and systems to help them avoid common pitfalls and build a brand that lasts. We're also home to the Launch & Grow Accelerator. [ Learn more about coaching ] | [ Explore Launch & Grow ] NEW for YOU! We've completely revised our Launch & Grow Accelerator with a full update for 2026. Grab your m...
August 18, 2026Episode 26447 min
Ep 264 Decoding Amazon Sales for Profit and Growth
Send us Fan Mail Does Amazon feel like a huge behemoth that cannot be tamed? We've got good news for you! Luke from Waypoint Growth Partners joins Stephanie to break down what it actually takes to be profitable on Amazon. The look at unit economics, ROAS, ACOS, TACOS, and why racing to the bottom on price is a losing game. Luke also shares a real story of a brand that was failing, but once they fixed their margins and actually raised their prices, they became a category leader. To learn more about Luke and Waypoint Growth Partners or to get your free Amazon audit go to https://www.growwithwaypoint.com/ , or go ahead and email Luke directly at Luke@growwithwaypoint.com 👋We're Food Business Success®. We mentor early-stage founders with real coaching, strategy, tools, and systems to help them avoid common pitfalls and build a brand that lasts. We're also home to the Launch & Grow Accelerator. [ Learn more about coaching ] | [ Explore Launch & Grow ] NEW for YOU! We've completely revised our Launch & Grow Accelerator with a full update for 2026. Grab your m...
August 4, 2026Episode 26335 min
Ep #263 The Label Review That Will Save You Headaches, Time & Money
Send us Fan Mail Ever wonder if a product label is actually compliant, or are you just hoping it is? Stephanie's guest in this episode is Lauren Rockteacher, a food scientist and the founder of Proof & Panel, a label compliance agency helping food, beverage, and supplement brands navigate the regulatory maze of FDA, USDA and FTC with over 17 years in the industry. They dig into why brands should never send labels to print before a compliance review, the real differences between FDA and USDA requirements, and a protein-claim mistake that could get a product pulled off shelves. Lauren also breaks down what belongs on a PDP (they explain what a PDP is) and why a graphic designer isn't a brand's compliance expert. Their philosophy: facts combat fear. The more founders understand the actual requirements, the less overwhelming compliance feels, and the fewer costly surprises down the road. Download Lauren's label compliance checklist Learn more about Lauren and the services she provides at ProofAndPanel.com 👋We're Food Business Success®. We mentor early-stage founders with real coaching, strategy, tools, and systems to help them avoid common pitfalls and build a brand that lasts. We're also home to the Launch & Grow Accelerator. [ Learn more about coaching ] | [ Explore Launch & Grow ] NEW for YOU! We've completely revised our Launch & Grow Accelerator with a full update for 2026. Grab your m...
July 21, 2026Episode 26233 min
Ep #262 Know Your Why
Send us Fan Mail Stephanie sits down with Sari for a conversation about how CPG founders should decide when, and whether, to move into a new sales channel, emphasizing self-awareness, true costs, margin analysis, and strategic patience over comparison and FOMO-driven impatience. They close with a shared reminder that discipline, facts, and knowing your "why" beat chasing every opportunity, and tease a future episode on fear and false urgency. And, grab the roadmap and Sales Channel quick training with Sari https://www.foodbizsuccess.com/roadmap 👋We're Food Business Success®. We mentor early-stage founders with real coaching, strategy, tools, and systems to help them avoid common pitfalls and build a brand that lasts. We're also home to the Launch & Grow Accelerator. [ Learn more about coaching ] | [ Explore Launch & Grow ] NEW for YOU! We've completely revised our Launch & Grow Accelerator with a full update for 2026. Grab your m...
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