138. Scale Up or Step Away: What’s Next for Your Food Business? - with Jordan Buckner of FoodBevy
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
Release Date: 06/27/2025
166. Profit and Margins and Cash Flow...OH MY! A Mini Masterclass in Food Business Financials with Sarah Delevan
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
A mini masterclass in food business finances with Sarah Delevan. We're covering margins, growth scenarios, and why "scale" isn’t a financial strategy.
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165. Choosing Your Word of the Year: Lean Into Who You’re Becoming as a Leader
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
How choosing your Word of the Year can help you lean into who you were meant to be....a benefit to your brand, your business, and beyond!
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164. Curating Holiday Traditions & Year-Round Food Rituals
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
In this fun episode, Katie & Clint swap stories about holiday traditions—and close with a simple idea about how brands become part of year-round rituals.
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163. Brand Pillars: The Backbone of Your Brand That Makes a Major Impact
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
A simple framework to help you review where you’ve been, regroup your resources, and refocus your next 12 months anytime you want more clarity and alignment. Great for year-end, or any time of year to reset!
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162. Your Next 12 Months: Review, Regroup & Refocus to Align With Your BHAG
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
A simple framework to help you review where you’ve been, regroup your resources, and refocus your next 12 months anytime you want more clarity and alignment. Great for year-end, or any time of year to reset!
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161. Should You Go? Choosing Events & Shows That Will Move Your Food Brand Forward
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
If your message feels messy, it’s likely not that you’re bad at writing...it’s because your brand strategy needs more structure. In ep 159, Katie shows how a strong foundation makes your messaging clearer + more consistent everywhere.
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160. Smart Growth for Food Brands: Are You Using “Expedited Cautiousness”?
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
If your message feels messy, it’s likely not that you’re bad at writing...it’s because your brand strategy needs more structure. In ep 159, Katie shows how a strong foundation makes your messaging clearer + more consistent everywhere.
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159. Does Your Message Feel Messy? Start With Strategy Before You Start Writing
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
If your message feels messy, it’s likely not that you’re bad at writing...it’s because your brand strategy needs more structure. In ep 159, Katie shows how a strong foundation makes your messaging clearer + more consistent everywhere.
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158. Using Grants to Grow Your Brand: VAPG and Beyond
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
Learn how food and farm businesses can use grants, including the USDA’s Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG), to fund growth, strengthen brand strategy, and scale with intention.
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157. PERSIST: After the Sales Pitch...How to Turn a Yes or No into Next Steps (4Ps Sales Process Step 5 of 5)
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
In Ep 157, we share what to do after the pitch — how to follow up, build buyer relationships, and turn every yes or no into forward motion for your food brand.
info_outlineAt some point, every business owner has a moment of reflection—is this brand ready to grow, or is it time to let go? And the reality is that you may even go back and forth on the same day, right?!
In this episode, I'm joined by my new co-host Clint Matthews, co-founder of Start Right Foods, and Jordan Buckner, founder of Foodbevy.
Jordan shares his behind-the-scenes journey of launching his first food brand, winding it down, and using those lessons to build a thriving support hub for food business founders.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
✅ How to evaluate whether your business is ready to scale—or if it’s time to pivot into a different direction
✅ Why product-market fit is essential (and what happens without it)
✅ How over-innovating can confuse customers—and what to do instead
✅ Insights about working with partners and agencies
✅ Why learning from past experience (yours or others’) can be a fast track to clarity
✅ The importance of making sure your business still aligns with your “why”
Jordan, Clint, and I talk candidly about what it means to build with purpose, simplify your strategy, and move forward with more clarity. Whether you're scaling up or wondering what’s next, this conversation is packed with insight and encouragement.
🔗 Related Resources:
- Foodbevy’s free guide to building a food & beverage brand
- Start Right Foods
- Get your free guide to avoid 4 common brand strategy mistakes (and how to fix them if you’re making them).
- Real Food Brands Brand Checkup Scorecard
- Real Food Brands Marketing Roundtable Facebook Group
IG: @realfoodbrands
LI: let’s connect!
✨ Ready to see where your brand could be stronger as you get ready to scale up? Explore the Brand Review or the Brand Success System to move forward with clarity and confidence.
Let’s go shake up shopping carts!
Katie Mleziva
Host & Food Brand Strategist | Real Food Brands