Ep 33: How to Build A Food Brand From Scratch with Ella Rauen-Prestes

Problem: How to Build A Food Brand From Scratch

Today’s guest is Ella Rauen-Prestes, the founder and CEO of FitBakes, a healthy snack food company. In this episode, Ella will share her process of how she built FitBakes from scratch. What was her process from her first Fiverr logo to her success despite the problems that COVID caused.

I didn’t want to spend any money until I knew I had a product that would sell. 

The Steps of Building a Food Brand 

Ella Rauen-Prestes talks about the early stages of FitBakes and how she and her team built it from the ground up.

Step #1: Getting Things Off The Ground

You can start small and kind of feel your way through. Which is what we did.

Step #2: Delegating Tasks and Outsourcing

I’m not a manufacturing expert. My knowledge is in tech, finances, management, that’s what I know how to do. I’d never dealt in manufacturing so I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be good at it.

Step #3: Reaching Out to Stores and Distributing

You have to understand that it’s not only, “Oh we have a shelf to distribute. Great!” No, now you have to get your products off their shelf.

Step #4: Certifications 

If you want to start baking or doing anything in your kitchen, call the council first. You can apply online. You go online and then the counsel sends somebody over to check on your kitchen.

Step #5: Dealing with Emergencies (COVID)

The online sales absolutely skyrocketed, so we took advantage of that. You can’t put all your eggs in the same basket, so we kind of compensated for the supermarkets with the online sales.

 We’re talking with a couple of large supermarkets to extend our presence. Everybody likes cake. Especially after lockdown, people might want to eat healthier. They might be more conscious about that. We’re now using the phrase, “Now you can have your cake and eat it.”

A Problem Ella Would Like To See Solved:

“How do you increase the shelf-life of cakes to a year?”