Case Studies
Assessment and Advice
Summary: Mostly Made is a Minnesota based food company that creates refrigerated meal kits that help meal creators get started by saving them time on the slicing, dicing, portioning, and sauteing. Mostly Made is a different twist on meal kits, but with the ability for consumers to put their own “chef’s kiss” on their entrée.
Challenge: Working through the right branding, packaging, and sell-in/distributor options for an emerging temp-state brand on a family budget. The owner/founder was working on a shoe-string budget and needed to be VERY creative on how she went about finding the right “helpers” in manufacturing, brand design, sell-in, and distribution.
Solution: Partnering with Pellasota, Mostly Made was able to have a “board of directors” that was able to be party to conversations with Target, Amazon, and their Minneapolis based manufacturing partner to “fill in the gaps” and provide insights into next steps, key questions, contract assessment, and on-shelf branding. Additionally, Pellasota was able to consult on expansion strategies relating to key distributors.
Result: Mostly Made was able to successfully sell-in to Super Target stores for a regional test in the Upper Midwest and navigate a brand/packaging change on the fly with a Twin Cities based partner. Additionally, Mostly Made has partnered with their co-packer to develop a strong temp-channel strategy for shelf-life stability for product quality and inventory management.
Global Supply Chain, Imports, Exports
Summary: Company K is a UK based food company with a strong local partnership with Tesco (U.K. Based). Company K was looking to expand into the U.S. Market on a very aggressive timeline to grow the brand and sales.
Challenge: Company K had to establish their U.S. based business with a handful of U.S. based employees BUT use the existing manufacturing partners based around the world (Indonesia, U.K.). This challenge required the U.S. based Company K team to think of creative ways to collaboratively plan their Forecasting, Production, and Replenishment strategies on a skinny budget and a FAST launch timeline to hit required sell-in dates with 2-major U.S. Retailers (Kroger and Sprouts).
Solution: Company K (U.S.) partnered with Pellasota to help them manage their forecasting, production and transportation timelines AND customized a replenishment tool to help them manage their ready dates, shelf-life, manufacturing purchase orders, AND cash flow management to be on-time and in-full with their fulfillment strategies.
Result: Company K (U.S.) was able to acquire a highly customizable tool ahead of their full-time hiring needs and help their leadership team manage their global supply chain and cash flow to hit their key national launch date with Kroger & react quickly to an earlier than anticipated sell-in opportunity with Sprouts. By having clear visibility to inventory, planning, and demand Pellasota was able to be a valuable resource when resources and timing were critical to gaining traction in the U.S. Retail market.