Confessions Beyond the Food
Confessions Beyond the Food is a podcast about working in the Food Industry. People who work in the Food Industry have grit and lots of stories to tell. W3 Sales, a sales & marketing company, will host this podcast with their confessions on how they have a new, fresh approach and invite guests to confess their secrets to their sauce.
Confessions Beyond the Food
Grit, Grace, Gratitude, And Pastries
What does it take to build a national pastry brand without losing your soul—or your partner? Nancy Ridlen sits down with KRMA Foods co-founders Rachel Oostman and Marine Crile to share the real story behind their QVC debut, late-night spreadsheets, and the values that kept them grounded when things got tough.
They unpack how their partnership evolved, the principles that shaped their culture, and the moments that nearly broke the business before they finally hit break-even. Rachel and Marine also challenge old playbooks for women in food, showing how vulnerability, intuition, and aligned decision-making led them to the right deals and the right people.
If you’re building a business, considering a partner, or love a behind-the-scenes look at food entrepreneurship, this episode blends grit, heart, and practical wisdom.
Welcome to Confessions Beyond the Food. I'm your host, Nancy Redlin. Let's dig in and get inspired. Hi, we're so excited to have Rachel Oostman and Maureen Kryle in the studio today. They are the co-owners of KMRA Foods. Welcome, ladies.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. Thanks for having us. Thank you so much. We're excited.
SPEAKER_01:So I randomly found Rachel because she like reposted one of our podcasts, and I was reading about your LinkedIn page, and I just felt like a kindred spirit. And I was like, I have to talk to this girl. And so I'm so, so excited to have you both here and to learn about your story. So can you tell us a little bit about what KMRA Foods is? Yes.
SPEAKER_02:And what I'll start by saying it's actually pronounced karma. So we spelled it without the A. Um, and we like when people announce it as KRMA because there's meaning behind it, but we do pronounce it karma. Um so that's and it's really about karma um in all of life. And I'll let Maureen talk a little bit about it.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. We just really believe that whatever we put into the world comes back to us. We are very strong uh beliefs of the universe having our back, but we have to do our part as well. So what karma is, is um we actually specialize in French pastry and uh we service QVC online, we service a few gift-giving uh customers and some national coffee shades. So our focus is on uh laminated dose or anything in the croissant world is kind of up our alley.
SPEAKER_02:And it's really about bringing connection to the table. So when you have a pastry, aside from just, oh, we're gonna go pick up a pastry, goes, how can we spread our pastries and good vibes and good energy across the US? And that is why we have karma.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, what fuels us is like the thought of having one of our pastries being eaten at a table somewhere in in a different state, and having people go like, oh my gosh, wow, or like ordering it for the holidays and like having some really strong moments of connection that fuels us. And we just imagine all of the people having them little by little.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, yummy. I will I need to try one. So I do some. That sounds awesome. I'll take you up on that. So tell me a little bit, how did your partnership begin? And what make made you realize you'd work well together?
SPEAKER_02:Well, our partnership actually started because we worked together in our previous role. Maureen was brought in from a friend that she had for 20 years, and they were she always spoke highly of her and said, You'll love her, bring her in, we'll work together. I met Maureen and I said, Hmm, not sure I love her yet. And it was more because I wasn't open to giving her a shot. Uh, we both have very big um personalities, and so you have to put the ego at the door. And once we did uh that at our previous role, we became best friends and unstoppable. And so I think that that was the way we met. That was through another person and coming into the same company together, and then later on start our own company, Karma.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's it's interesting because we both went in the previous role, we consistently would test identical on personality test, very high level of aggressiveness and high dominance and high influence. And and I think that's why it took us a minute to get to a point where we could be like, huh, it's not competition. Like, if we want to go far together, like we have to just like team up. And so instead of wanting to go fast alone, we went far together and continue to.
SPEAKER_01:That's really awesome. I mean, women do that, like especially, you know, I feel like especially women, we kind of size each other up and you know, our feathers kind of go up. Like, who are you? And um, and so it's so especially with a female that is so much like us, I can really identify that. And then, but yeah, once you get past that and you can find common ground and um wow, you can conquer the world. So that's a really amazing. So um you but guys both lead with grit, grace, and gratitude. How do those values show up in your business every day?
SPEAKER_00:So I think we started, we didn't identify those values immediately. I think um when things got difficult is when we realized I don't think I grit was part of my vocabulary personally, I don't know about E-Rage, um, until like maybe a year into the business, a year and a half, when we realized it was we were losing a lot of money each year. We really didn't know how to find our North Star. And so I think maybe we read something. I don't even know how it came about, but grit came because we found how much resilience really we had in ourselves, which had never showed up in that way in our lives before. Um, and it continued to show up because we both have um full-time roles that we took on a couple years ago because we um we wanted to continue to spread love and connection, and so we both were we were both in the same uh space of dessert and pastries for for big companies. And the so the grit comes in when it's like 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. and we finished our 9 to 5, which is really a big 9 to 5, and then we have to work on karma, and we uh the grit says we get to work on karma instead of that. Um gratitude, grace, giggles. It's another big G.
SPEAKER_02:Um we always say, we always say great grace, gratitude, and giggles because really, if you don't laugh at yourself or along the way, you're just not it. It could be the toughest days, and you just have to have those giggles. But you have to have gratitude, gratitude of the opportunity to get you to where you're at, gratitude for the people who support you along the way, for yourself that comes with the grace. And it's really like Maureen said, the last two years is where we said, I've always been gritty. I've been I was kind of trained like that, like a workaholic. You gotta put the grid in, you gotta have the backbone, it doesn't matter. You do it, you do it, you do it. Um, but in this sense, it was a very different grit because it goes, do we keep our business or do we leave it? And once you then own up to that and you stay, then you gotta get gritty and you have to make sure things get done. And that was that's how it shapes every day because it just shows you that we all have it in us. Sometimes you just have to poke a little bit deeper and you have to go in a different way. Um, and then going back to just gratitude for all that is the way to ground yourself through it all.
SPEAKER_00:And and Grace is like all those little doors opening for us, the people that loaned us money, the customers that decided to uh trust us, our full-time job employers who decided to trust that we were gonna do right by them in our nine to five role and still have karma. It's like all of those little things that add up to being a lot of grace that we feel we receive from the universe.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, those are great values to have for a company. And I think that I love how it all kind of started with the grit because I mean the hard times are what they can make or break you. And but when you come out on that other side and you practice all the giggles and the the grace and the gratitude, I mean it just makes your team so much stronger. And and if you I think if the ride is too easy, then I don't know if it's as fun, to be honest, but oh, it definitely wasn't too easy.
SPEAKER_02:And and it's true because we always had Marina and I have always been really good workers. We never really wanted to be entrepreneurs, and so this took us to a different level of challenge that we were comfortable being the overperformers in companies with people. We are comfortable making a lot of money, and then you have your own business, and it completely changes everything you're comfortable with. And I think that you're right, it the challenge and that grit that you have to have, not everyone has that in them. Um, and when you do, there is a fire lit in lit to keep going. Yeah, and it can be super exhausting beyond.
SPEAKER_00:Beyond. So yeah, sometimes sometimes we we look at ourselves and we're like, remember like 2021, 2022? A lot of it is a blur, to be honest, because I think we just it was like about putting one foot in front of the other, and like each week, like we had a lot of money owed to suppliers, to actual loans that we took out. And every week we're like, okay, how much do we have coming in? How much can we afford to pay? And then like looking that at that debt reduced week by week, it's a blur. And now we're like, oh, we did that.
SPEAKER_02:Like, where was I in 2021? Because I I think it was like an out-of-body living, like just getting through life. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think we all were. I mean, I don't know how we got through it, and so um, so what has been the biggest challenge or learning curve of being a women-owned company in this industry?
SPEAKER_00:Um as being a woman, I think it's what's interesting is that I think neither Rachel or myself look at being a woman as like a challenge necessarily. Uh in definitely in business. I think we both have a lot, like what we said earlier, we both have a lot of masculine energy when it comes to business. And so those were definitely helpful for us to push through. Um, I don't know that there was necessarily a challenge.
SPEAKER_02:I don't know what you would I would say actually, because we started the business in 2020 when things were just turning upside down. We literally started it right in the middle of COVID. And for us, it was more because we were women, we were more vulnerable in the way that we took our approach to customers. And I think that that helped us. So at first it being a challenge of, oh, what are the what are we doing? It was like people were admiring why you're starting a business, you're out on your own. And then every time they told us we couldn't do something, because it is a man's world in the food industry a lot. But if you show up authentic and vulnerable and just real, everyone wants the part of that. That's that energy where it's contagious. And so I think that that energy versus it being a challenge for us, we took it and go, like, what? There's no walls in front of us. Let's go.
SPEAKER_00:I think QVC also leaned into it. Um, they they were like, Oh, you're women's own. Like they were really seeing that as a as a huge opportunity. They uh marketed Karma Foods on their website as a woman's own business. We actually got the certification, you know. So I I mean, no challenge for me.
SPEAKER_01:That's awesome because you were authentic and you were yourself and not trying to be something you're not. And I think that's I think that's how I try to approach it is like I'm just gonna be myself, and everybody has different strengths, and you know, but we all have to work together. So um, so what strengths do you think? And you might have already answered this, but what strengths do you think women naturally bring to entrepreneurship and leadership?
SPEAKER_00:Um, so I think the the one of the biggest strengths that we found actually through our partnership was even though we used to show up with a lot of masculine qualities, we realized that vulnerability is actually going to get us number one fully aligned in who we are and how we feel. And so there's a lot less resistance. Like it's like I'm not showing up to work in a challenging way, or like, oh, I have to go to work, I have to fight. I have, I think we just kind of learned, like you said, I'm just gonna show up, we're just gonna show up as who we are, and the right customers will will align and they will connect and it will resonate with them. And it's actually been mind-blowing that being vulnerable, being true to ourselves, listening to our gut and our intuition and some of the relationships we had that didn't align. And the aggressive part of us was like, we're gonna make it work, we're gonna make it fit. Whereas the woman was like, it doesn't feel right. Oh, okay, well, now what? And then we kind of realign some of the partnerships we had, and we're very happy.
SPEAKER_02:We should we go, oh, we should have listened to that that intuition that we have all along. Where where were you that day?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, um the yeah, listening to yourself is I think super important. Your gut, like I just feel like my gut will be screaming something and I'll be trying to fight it or control it. And I'm like, no, you know, you're being told, you know, you're there's something wrong with this or right with this, and um, and to lean into that because it's usually right. So um, so what does each of you bring to the partnership that helps it work so well?
SPEAKER_02:We uh we bring a lot, but I think the most part, which we already kind of talked about, but it was the vulnerability, honesty, um, transparency, and there's no judgment. We are we we always say, no matter what, we're gonna speak our truth. And if the truth hurts you, then you gotta go inward.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so I think another thing that is also important is back in 2021 when we were really wondering are we filing for bankruptcy? Are we gonna push through? It was really like a lot of dark days back then. Um, we hired a business coach who helped us put together some principles, and so beyond our core values, we also agreed on some principles, which we had like reprinted and it was like in our office. And so um, we're all on the same team, is like the number one principle, and it really keeps us like grounded, like it doesn't matter what Rachel says. I remember we're all on the same team. We all want karma to succeed, is is another principle, and we're all doing the best we can with our current capabilities and capacity, and so those principles kind of helped us shape some conversations and and just keep pushing one foot in front of the other.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, without those principles, I don't think it would have gone as smoothly as it did. Right. Because those reminders, those principles, those cultural reminders of each other are go, okay. And I had a hard time with their the third partner who's no longer part of the company, when they said, Yeah, she's doing the best she can, and I was like, that's her best? Like, I can't. And they're like, Rachel, you need to just understand what it means. And I had to really sit back and sit with it for months because I couldn't understand that that could be someone's best. But then once I realized through capacity and certain situations, I said, okay, now I get it. And now it clicks. Now I completely get it, and I have more empathy for other people. And I think, oh, that's their best. That's great. It it helped. It helped personally, professionally, and all of the realm.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's so hard. I think for me as a salesperson, was going from being a salesperson and I controlled my destiny, like it was just me. And then when you add other people into the mix, it's like you really have to learn to trust your team and and and vice versa. And so it's it was really challenging going from, especially when you have that hunter mentality that sales drive. And um, so I can definitely identify with that. So, how do you guys keep your communication strong when things get stressful or opinions differ? I think that the communication is just open.
SPEAKER_02:We whatever comes up, if it's the hardest conversation and we're worried about what the other person says, then you need to say it. And I think that because of that is how we just don't, it's like, like you said, we're practically in a marriage with our company. We have to put it all in, and it's the same in a marriage. If you don't speak up, you later have resentment, you later regret something. And so we just put it all on the table and we show up with whatever we are that day, and however it's gonna that I allow Maureen to respond, however, she needs to respond, and that's okay. That's and then we we don't um we we say, you know, if you're suffering, we're gonna let we're gonna tell each other, like you're having the day, go inward, see what's causing that, and then let's chat again.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we go back on those principles. We have agreed that if something doesn't feel right, the other one has the right and should say what doesn't feel right. Like when we are about to sign a contract, if something doesn't align, if some something doesn't feel good, we're not just gonna shove that down, we're just gonna be honest and and we've had a few times where I've I know for a fact that I've I've taken a 360 on it, and I said, Well, actually, M, uh, I call her Frenchie, by the way.
SPEAKER_02:I say, Oh, you know what? We that this isn't gonna work for me. And she's like, What do you mean? I'm like, no, I just don't feel good about it, and I'm not gonna agree to it, and this is not gonna happen. And it could have been the path was already set, and I was like, nope, we're changing paths, and that has led us to where we're at today, which is being very true to ourselves, to our values, to our principles, but living with that peace of knowing I said everything I could, I did everything I could, and I'm showing up the best I could.
SPEAKER_01:That's awesome. I mean, not only just for business partners, for I mean, your coworkers and your bosses, and even that you're like you said, marriage, you know, for your marriage, if if you're married, to, you know, not push it down and and to yeah, to get it all out there. So, and sometimes they're they they're very uncomfortable conversations. And it doesn't for me, I don't know about you guys, but it just never feels right like disagreeing with somebody. And so I like to be right, and so um, and it's when it's somebody you care about, it's it's it's hard to have this challenges.
SPEAKER_00:So I I I think it's also allowing us to go really, really deeper and get to a really vulnerable place. Um, we by being truthful and by not having surface level conversation, we're able to have a much bigger friendship, a much stronger partnership in business. Um I think it's made us grow a lot, uh, grow up in some ways.
SPEAKER_02:Um, and yeah, I mean it's it's it's definitely special and it's rare because it's not not everyone wants to put the energy or the work into what it takes, and it is scary and it it it's change and it's processing different things. And it's just like any marriage. Like you said, you have people who are married for 25 years that should have been divorced 20 years ago. They just don't want to make the the, they don't want to commit to what it takes to make the change or speak their mind. And um, we chose in our in our business, in our friendship, that this is gonna be very open and we're gonna make sure that nobody has regrets or anger towards each other down the line and and no one goes like, oh, but you never shared that with me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's awesome that you guys recognize that and you kind and you have a process to to kind to go through that with each other. I think that's really good advice for business owners. So what's been your proudest we did it moment so far?
SPEAKER_00:There's I mean, there's a there's a few. There's some like big customers that we onboarded that when we got the first purchase order, we were like, oh my gosh, like that's huge. Or the first time we got on TV with QBC was huge. The way we did it with probably like the year that instead of losing money, we actually broke even. That was like uh like almost like we did it, like not like a maybe externally huge achievement, but going from losing several hundred thousand dollars for a couple years to like okay, we stopped the bleeding. It's it's whatever we put in place this year is working, and this means that maybe next year we'll make money. Like, I think for me that it's like was like the biggest for probably for you two. I don't know. Absolutely, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:It was like, whoo, we realigned, we saw our North Star, who we're doing it, it's happening. Now we feel like we're in a good place. And the funny part is we both took other full-time roles in which we're highly invested in, um, and we spent a lot of our energy on that. And while we stepped away a little bit from our business to realign, we found the most alignment. And I think that's the funny part because they say what it this there's that saying, you can't see the force through the trios. And I think that's what happens, you get so caught up in it. And so the proud that moment where we go, we're breaking even, and then we can make money. Like that's a concept. Wow. Uh, and and and I think signing those customers, every time we've we've had a customer, we can't share their names. But any of the customers we have, and we go, oh my gosh, it's just tripling our business or doubling our business, or we're able to do this. It's like, oh, that feels really good. And we stick to our values. So we're not compromising to get those customers. The customers are aligned to everything that we are in, you know, it's our karma. At the end of the day, it is our karma.
SPEAKER_01:That's awesome. Um, so what advice would you give to other women considering a business partnership or launching something of their own?
SPEAKER_02:I'll start with this one because I always say you think you're going to business with a best friend. And Nancy, you said that you had no more partners anymore because you see that best friend in a different way and typically don't go as deep with them until you're in business. And then once you're in business, you need to trust but verify. And if you don't, then you have a best friend that is a distant connection in which you don't normally want to see their face anymore. Um, and so I would say when you decide to go into business with someone, ask all the questions. Like even where look at the worst case scenario. When people say, oh, legally we don't want to read an agreement, we'll never need it. That's when you need to read the agreement. That's when you need to double check in, put in all the clauses and say, if this were to happen, then what? And once you do that, because no one wants to do that, that's not fun. It's not the part where like, well, they would never do that to me. Well, never say never because you don't know until you know. And once you know, it could be too late. And so I would say trust but verify is one of the biggest advice I would say going into business with anyone. And if you could go to if we're a rare case, Maureen and I, but if you don't have someone that you can have that relationship with, try it on your own.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think asking all the questions, like go to like the worst case scenario. Like, let's say the funding runs out, let's say we have to not take a salary for two years. Let's say X, Y, and Z is happening. Like, what's plan B for your business partner? What's how does that affect their families? And and like really go dark almost to make sure that you are in alignment with the plan. Is the person gonna call it quits after 18 months? And you're like, well, hold on a second, I'm not ready to call it quits. Like, have the difficult conversations up front. If you can have that in an operating agreement, even better because then then whatever you agree on is you you've you've signed. Sealed. Um, so yeah, and then after that, you can kind of focus on the business once you are in real alignment with your business partners.
SPEAKER_01:It's kind of like um, I went through premarital counseling even before I got engaged. My husband was like, We're going through some tough stuff before we figure out if this is the path that we should go down on. And and so I love that advice for potential business partners because you know, there's it is challenging. It's a marriage. We talked about it several times, but you're sharing a bank account, you're sharing, you're sharing your livelihood, um, your time. And in y'all's case, you already have other jobs. You know, you're, you know, time becomes a thief and it can make people better. There's all of the different scenarios that can come up, but these are really good, um, really good advice. I remember my stepdad saying, you know, just make sure you know who they are. Do you really know them? And, you know, 10 years ago, I'm like, yes, I do. And I mean, I love, you know, these were incredible women. And so, but I I'm so encouraging to see y'all's relationship and how what you've done with your business. I mean, really big kudos to QVC and all these customers. So, um, okay, and this might be a confession, I'm not sure, but so if for fun, if your partnership were had a theme song, what would it be?
SPEAKER_00:The one we always sing and dance to. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I always forget the name of it. It's Play Hard by Neo. By Neo. Work hard and play hard. That's that's our theme song.
SPEAKER_02:We've been dancing to that for many, many years.
SPEAKER_01:That's awesome. Man, I just want to hang out with you guys. I mean, I feel like, and I don't know if it's um my generation or whatever, but I mean, you just had to work hard. I mean, that was just who I mean, it was I mean, you stay, you got there early, you stayed late, you know. I don't know if that was a generational thing, you know, but um I feel very kindred spirits with you guys. So like why? And just that culture. So um, do you guys have a confession? Any additional confessions?
SPEAKER_00:I think I'll I'll piggyback off of what you just said. Uh my my confession would be I think I had or I thought I had everything figured out in my early career and big roles very early on, um, degrees, and and I I I think I had a strong ego. And I would say this has definitely and continues to show me I have nothing figured out. Um, I'm I'm realizing some things we were discussing this morning, like some attention things that I'm like, you know, I I I'm realizing there's always gonna be more growth. The journey is just beginning. Um, and I'm able to say that and feeling strong and feeling strength coming from it, as opposed to maybe 10 years ago, I would have never admitted any weakness or anything like that. Um, so that's my confession. That's a great confession.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I'm more quirky, so uh I like to share the quirky part of me. Um, so my quirk, I have terrible handwriting, and it's gotten worse as even at though I write all the time. And people like my mom's like, I can't read what you wrote me. I can't read your cars. And so now I've been doing this thing, I can write upside down, which is just weird, but I can write upside down quite quickly. And so now my upside down writing is better than my my my normal handwriting. So in the future, when you get a handwritten note from me and it looks like a five year old wrote it, it's because I wrote it upside down.
SPEAKER_00:I picked her up yesterday from The airport, and she throws this card at me about gratitude. And I'm like, what is this? She goes, read it. And I'm like, I can actually read it. And she goes, I wrote it with my left hand.
SPEAKER_02:Well, yeah, I did write them with my left hand. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Who would have thought? Well, that's a that's a really fun confession. I mean, both of you guys, I mean, y'all are just um, I mean, what lights you are to this industry and just in the little time that we've had together. And um, I would love to talk to you guys again because there I feel like there's so much more I want to ask you guys. Um, but I really appreciate you guys coming on the show today. And um, any final thoughts or that you guys want to share? We'd love to come back.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, thanks for having. And thank you so much. One thing that I had in my mind that I wanted to share to end it is when one thing when you said about business partners, and I'll just quickly say is that when someone someone once told me they said, when someone shows you who they are, believe them. And I think that even when you first might meet people, so Nancy, we connected right away. I loved your energy. I was listening to your other pot, your other episodes on the podcast, and I was like, Yep, my energies align. I protect my energy, but I bring people in who have that same spirit. And and I think that's one really good test is is when you see someone for what they are, believe them.
SPEAKER_01:That's great advice. And and I just want to say thank you guys for just what you're bringing to the. I'm serious. Like thank you for what you're bringing to the industry and showing how a healthy partnership works. And as women who I think you're beating the odds about both being having the same um scores, um, whatever scores you sell scores, whatever you rank. Um, but that's an incredible accomplishment. So thank you so much for joining us and um look forward to having you guys on again. Thank you. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you so much.
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