Kindred Foods
A beloved regional food brand scaling nationally. We gave them a shelf presence that held up next to brands ten times their size.
01 · Situation
Kindred had been a farmers-market-to-regional-grocery success story for eight years. The product was proven. The founder had stories from customers who drove an hour to buy it. But the packaging and brand looked handmade in a way that worked at a market and failed at retail scale.
02 · Problem
What got them to 200 stores was authenticity. But the packaging that felt charming at a farmers market looked amateur next to national brands. Buyers at large retailers kept saying the same thing: love the product, not sure about the shelf appeal.
The Work
03 · Approach
We kept the soul and rebuilt the system. New packaging architecture that scaled from a single SKU to a 14-product line. A visual identity that felt artisanal and premium, not artisanal and scrappy. A social content system the team could run weekly. And a retail launch kit that made the brand feel inevitable on the shelf.
04 · Outcome
National distribution secured with two major retailers in the first 60 days. The founder said buyers stopped asking about the brand and started asking about the product. That was the goal.
What changed
14
SKUs redesigned in one packaging system
2
National retailers secured in 60 days
+52%
Sell-through rate vs. category average
National shelf presence that made buyers say yes on the first call.
“We went from buyers telling us to come back when the brand was ready, to buyers calling us. CDH made that happen.”
Elena Vasquez · Founder, Kindred Foods