Foodpreneur with Chelsea Ford
Imagine a consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry where both small and large players coexist on a level playing field, consumers have choice, there’s integrity in what they’re buying and they experience innovative, sustainable products.
In this weekly podcast, hosted by founder, award-winning coach, consultant & small business advocate, Chelsea Ford, you'll hear interviews with incredible founders and hard-to-reach industry specialists as well as practical and actionable content that directly supports your CPG business to grow, become more profitable and thrive.
Learn more at www.chelseaford.com .
Foodpreneur with Chelsea Ford
#133 How EatKinda’s Cauliflower Ice Cream is Disrupting Freezers & Scaling Smarter
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Scaling a frozen food brand? It’s not for the faint-hearted. Cold chain logistics, merchandising nightmares, and razor-thin margins make it one of the most challenging categories in the game.
But Mrinali Kumar, CEO and co-founder of EatKinda, is flipping the script - proving that bold innovation, sustainability, and smart operations can carve out a winning edge.
In this episode, Mrinali reveals how EatKinda - the world’s first cauliflower-based ice cream - went from a small-town pitch comp in New Zealand to over 120 retail listings, and garnering international buzz, for its mission to reduce food and plastic waste.
And now? They’re exiting NZ (for now!) to go all to focus on the US market.
Tune in to learn:
🍦 How cauliflower creates that ultra-creamy, dairy-like texture.
🍦 What frozen distribution really costs, and how they lifted margins from 17% to 40%.
🍦 How smart use of foodservice data landed them on retail shelves.
🍦 The merchandising missteps that almost cost them big.
🍦 Why the US is their next frontier - and how they’re making the leap.
If you’re building a food or drink brand and want to scale sustainably and profitably, this episode is your playbook.
👉 Listen now to hear what it really takes to build a disruptive CPG brand that lasts.
This Season of Foodpreneur with Chelsea Ford is brought to you by Foodpreneurs Festival - a year’s worth of sales and promotion opportunities under one roof - and Chelsea Ford Co., modernising the CPG industry, one emerging brand at a time.
LINKS & RESOURCES:
- Eat Kinda website
- Eat Kinda overseas
- Your Free Pitch Plan
- Get Your Foodpreneurs Festival Ticket Now
- Become a Chelsea Ford Insider
Season 17 with NFTC
Season 17, out now, is brought to you by NFTC – The Natural Foods Trading Company.
If you're a growing food brand navigating that tricky middle phase—scaling up, maybe landing your first major retailer, figuring out how to buy smarter—NFTC is worth knowing about.
They're a mid-tier ingredient supplier specialising in natural wholefoods: nuts, dried fruits, herbs, spices, seeds, and more. Small enough to offer lower minimums and genuine flexibility, but backed by serious sourcing capability and a team that actually knows its range inside out.
Think of them as the ingredient partner that grows with you—not one you'll outgrow.
Check them out at nftc.com.au
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