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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 14

Season 14, out now, is 'Scale Season' and is being presented by Chelsea Ford Co.’s 10th anniversary.

For a decade, Chelsea Ford has backed Foodpreneurs and pushed to shake up an industry that too often plays it safe and leaves smaller players behind. She champions bold products, smarter tech, and better ways of working - because the future of CPG should be shaped by ideas, not just deep pockets.

Chelsea believes every emerging brand deserves a fair shot - not crumbs from the big end of town. Founders, no matter their gender, ethnicity, cultural background, spiritual path, sexual orientation, or beliefs, deserve their place on the shelves.

Chelsea stands for healthy competition - real competition - where brave ideas and fresh brands rise up because they’re good, not because they’re bankrolled.

This podcast is part of that mission. Every episode sparks bigger thinking, practical action, and the connections you need to get your products into more hands - and more money in your pocket.

Ten years in, she’s more committed than ever. The next decade is wide open for those ready to do things differently and back themselves to grow.

Click this link to see how you can be part of it.