Helping Better-For-You Food & Beverage Startups
“I am passionate about sharing my expertise for brand building along with a strong roadmap for smart messaging and creative storytelling that connects with consumers. We will work together to build your business from the ground up and take your food and beverage concept into the natural, specialty, and conventional grocery markets.”
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I partner with startup and emerging food and beverage companies to help you win consumers and build brand recognition in the better-for-you food category. I work directly with FoodPreneurs to combine your passion for starting the business, product innovation, and relevant trends and consumer needs in the category.
"Kristine is a strategic thinker, methodic, analytical and most importantly is passionate about her work. Her work is always above and beyond client expectations. She has a knack for providing clear insights that help clients make crucial decisions for their business."
Karim Marrouch, Market Launch Strategist, The Greater Goods
“Before meeting Kristine, our company was struggling to create a brand identity. Our company has a huge social component tackling food insecurity in Canada, and it was difficult to find the right way to showcase and incorporate our social objective and products through the brand. Kristine listened to our needs carefully, and created the brand identity, positioning, and values from scratch! We are amazed by the creativity and quality of her work. Wouldn’t know what to do without her!”
David (Haoyang) Lu, CEO, VieChi Foods LTD.
Design Credit: Fizz Creative
Vision: Vitality in Harmony
VieChi brings people together to share in health, happiness and sustainable living. We believe that delicious, nutrient-rich meals can help us achieve wellness and fulfillment in life. We empower others to experience new cultures through cuisine; to inspire positive change and nurture conversations between people from all walks of life.Impact: Vie Chi portrays love (vie) and energy (chi) with their brand and connects with consumers in a deeper way. Brand visuals stand out on the retail shelf and consumers buy into more than a meal for themselves through connecting vitality in harmony with the company giveback program Cherry Table. Immediate launch into 17 retail locations.
Vie Chi
Challenge: Launch a new Asian frozen entree - Pearl Crescent. Outline unique brand strategy to include innovative packaging.
Strategy and Tactics:
- Market Research & Competitive Analysis
- New Brand Name Development
- Brand Positioning, Vision, Mission, RTB's
- Tagline Development
- Messaging; Voice and Product
- Logo & Iconography
- Packaging Design and Development
JT's Deli
“I have been so focused on making the most nutrient dense vegan deli products and needed to direct some attention to my company story. Working with Kristine is easy and she is helping me bring my dream to life through authentic messaging and vibrant visuals. She consistently asks the right questions and provides recommendations that align with the deli category market trends.”
Terrie Searer, Founder Jt’s Deli
Design Credit: Sweet & Savory Designs
Vision: Our vision is to share the joy of food through celebrating family and friendships. We count our blessings everyday and encourage everyone to live a life as an intentional legacy to our future children.
Mission: It is our mission to create plant-powered, grab & go nutrient dense deli products. We put a lot of thought into our ingredient blends and their nutritional value so you get the most energy and fulfillment from each yummy product.
Jt's Deli
Challenge: Redefine JT Nutri Feast as a modern, plant-based, grab & go deli option
Strategy: Develop the company as “Plant-Powered Grab & Go”, nutritionally powered by JT’s Gourmet Nutri-Feast Nutritional Yeast.
Raw Energy
“I worked with Kristine for our brand and concept development of our ready to drink smoothie. Kristine helped me define in words and visuals my product purpose and brand positioning. As a product creator it can be difficult to simplify and prioritize as well as articulate your brand story. Kristine listened and heard what I wanted my product to represent to the market and was clearly able to communicate this in a timely manner.”
Jacqueline Da Silva, Raw Energy Founder
Design Credit: Eye Candy Design
Mission: We make top-shelf energy smoothies so you can GSD. Time is valuable and our goal is to offer time-strapped consumers the convenience of a powerful and nutrient dense smoothie featuring Guarana.
Raw Energy
Challenge: Develop brand direction for a scoopable and low in calories healthy ice cream.
Strategy: Create a healthy energy drink dedicated to quality sourced natural ingredients and no additives or refined sugars.
Les Delices
Design Credit: Sweet & Savory Designs
Vision: We believe in the power of hope, it fuels us with energy and courage and inspires us to move forward with perseverance. It is our vision to bring people together, encouraging hope and happiness and sharing our Haitain heritage through the flavors of our food. Food is therapy and friendship at the same time and both should be shared and celebrated.
Join us for dinner tonight and let's celebrate life together.Mission: We are committed to making authentic Caribbean appetizers with bold flavors. Using our Haitian family recipes our Patties have the flakiest pastry filled with a unique, homemade Epis Green Seasoning. We bake, not fry our foods so that you get the best taste.
Les Delices
Challenge: Introduce Authentic Haitian family recipes packed with delicious Caribbean flavors that take you on a tropical escape.
Strategy: Develop a brand essence to satisfy our desire to escape the daily hustle and experience ethnic cuisines.
Cretan Creamery
"If you are looking for a brand expert Kristine is your person! I had different thoughts and ideas in my head but struggled to put it all together. She helped tremendously by asking the right questions to help me achieve my end goals of what I wanted for my brand."
Alexia Vassar, Co Founder, Cretan Creamery
Design Credit: Sweet & Savory Designs
Vision: Enjoy Life & Eat More Ice Cream
It is our vision to discover more wholesome, happy and joyful times with family and friends.Mission: Our mission is to deliver a healthy (better for you) ice cream made with nature’s simplest ingredients and resulting in less calories to feel guilty about and a creamy texture that melts in your mouth and puts a smile on your face.
Cretan Creamery
Challenge: Develop brand direction for a scoopable and low in calories healthy ice cream.
Strategy: Embrace a sophisticated “kid at heart” mentality, celebrating the fun, guilt-free lifestyle we all crave as adults. Visuals and content that showcase the healthy, quality ingredients.
Ademi
“Kristine is an incredibly talented brand strategist and a wonderful person to work with. We’ve enjoyed the process of brand creation and strategy for the product that we are developing. There were a lot of good communication and creative sessions, helping us define our brand and create a vision that is meaningful. I definitely recommend Kristine for anyone who is looking for a world class brand strategist. Thank you Kristine!”
Aidar and Aizhan Co Founders of Ademi
Design Credit: Sweet & Savory Designs
Vision: We believe in living harmoniously with animal and marine life and promoting healthy plant-based alternatives for the benefit of all including the mother Earth. Our purpose is to promote and educate our community to live a sustainable and healthy lifestyle through biodiversity, animal rights, and environmental protection.
Mission: Our mission is to develop a like-for-like seafood experience, without compromise. Using plant-based ingredients to offer FRESH (raw, ready to cook) seafood alternatives.
Ademi
Challenge: Develop brand position that brings Ademi to life in a newly evolving plant-based seafood category.
Strategy: Build brand positioning that showcases innovation in flavor and texture with an approachable and curious personality
Nessa Creations
“We are a family team and upon first meeting Kristine from Brand Guide we were excited. She could feel our energy, our vibe, and our vision. She asked the right questions to help us reach our end goal. If we weren’t happy she was not happy. We are ecstatic about our brand messaging and packaging. The buyers were impressed and we are working on the next phase of full brand development.”
Vanessa James, Founder of Nessa Creations
Design Credit: Fizz Design
Mission
Our Mission is to redefine ‘treats’. We create amazing allergy-free treats that everyone wants to eat, made with simple ingredients and packed with flavor. We put the SMILE into eating allergy-friendly treats. No more cardboard, no more bland flavors, no more compromise.
Nessa Creations
Challenge: Introduce allergy-friendly, better-for-you pastry products.
Strategy: Develop a brand personality and messaging that aligns with Millennials and Gen Z target audience. Develop a unique value proposition and brand messaging that aligns with the founder's goals. Create packaging that is uniquely designed to stand out on the shelf.
Value Proposition: Nessa Toasty's redefines the toaster pastry category. It’s a gluten-free, allergy-friendly, scrumptious version of a familiar product (Pop Tart™) that addresses dietary challenges, allergies, and sensitivities.
Granny Lee's Kitchen
"I had the pleasure of working with Kristine while preparing Granny Lee's Extra Fluffy Pancake Mix for the marketplace. Before our first meeting, I was very nervous, as branding was like a foreign language to me. Kristine put me at ease immediately and made it easy for me to share my story and experiences with her so that she could help me shine through my brand. She translated my story, feelings, and beliefs into the perfect voice and personality that speaks of everything I love and hold dear."
Leonie Segall, Founder and CEO Granny Lee's Kitchen Limited
Mission
Granny Lee’s Kitchen is an approachable, family-focused business of secret recipes and family traditions. We are on a mission to share a collection of storied dry mixes and fresh baked goods. Whether you are connecting and eating in our family-friendly cafe or shopping online or in-store for our tasty breakfast and baking treats we have a warm Granny Lee hug ready for you.
Granny Lee's Kitchen
Challenge: Elevate a cottage foods business into mainstream grocery.
Strategy: Develop a brand personality that aligned with the founder and her goal to encourage family togetherness through cooking. Create approachable messaging and packaging with updated colors, imagery, and logo.
Vision: Our vision is to bring people together with wholesome meals and supportive conversations that nurture the spirit of family.
Chef Kaz
“I believe everyone has struggled to bring their dreams to life. I was having that kind of difficulty bringing my business Chef Kaz Foods to life before I started to work with Kristine. I had a whole bunch of ideas, images, and colors in my head but couldn't describe or draw what I really wanted. But once I started to work with Kristine, she asked the right questions from many different angles and took my ideas, images, words and colors from my head, and created a brilliant brand message with visuals.”
Ikumi Yoda, Co-Founder Chef Kaz
Design Credit: Eye Candy Design
Value Proposition
- Unique traditional Japanese flavors with a modern, artisanal twist
- Versatile sauces are multi-purpose, serving as marinades, dressings, zesty accompaniment to meats, salads, sandwiches, sides, rice, etc.
- Convenient opportunity for consumers to add Japanese flavors at home, and with their own personal spin.
Chef Kaz
Challenge: Introduce Chef Kaz sauces and develop a brand strategy and visual packaging that will pop off the shelf at the grocery store.
Strategy: Create a cultural love affair with Chef Kaz sauces as an ambassador to magical new realms of taste that adventurous foodies will crave. Start with traditional recipes and techniques adding a modern twist of artisan flavors. The result is amazingly versatile sauces that add zest and excitement to any meal.
Vision: Our vision is to bring people together with wholesome meals and supportive conversations that nurture the spirit of family.
Helping Better-For-You Food & Beverage Startups
Kristine Carey Of Brand Guide And Bernard Verkaaik Of The Greater Goods Food Business Consulting Bring Enhanced Expertise To CPG Brand Building And Go-To-Market Strategies For The Better-For-You Food Category.
The duo of Brand Guide and The Greater Goods are helping startup companies to win consumers and build brand recognition in the better-for-you food category. The Greater Goods food business consulting team has developed a Go To Market Program which is a two-phased approach to launching a startup food business into the market. Phase one is brand positioning, creative development, and buyer validation. Phase two is the go-to-market strategy and launch plan.
Brand Guide has partnered with The Greater Goods to provide branding expertise and work directly with the startup founders to align the companies with consistent and authentic messaging. The goal is to combine the entrepreneur’s passion for starting the business, product innovation, and relevant trends and consumer needs in the category.
“We launched the Go To Market Program because of an influx of food startup inquiries in our business,” says Bernard Verkaaik, founder of The Greater Goods. “There are so many new and exciting food company introductions that we know we can help launch into North America. We support both Canadian and US markets and we are the starting point for grocery buyer validation and in-market launch. We are currently taking submissions to join the Go To Market Program.”
Phase 1: Assessing Market Opportunity
Buyer validation with brand positioning and mock packaging
Phase 2: Full Brand Expression
Plan your launch with experts from Brand Guide and The Greater Goods
“I’m excited to share my expertise for brand building along with a strong roadmap for developing messaging and creative storytelling that connects with consumers,” said Kristine Carey, Founder of Brand Guide and Brandamentals Academy. “We will work together to build your business from the ground up and take your food or beverage concept into the natural, specialty, and conventional grocery markets.”
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