Operations is a key part of building your brand. It's how you deliver consistently.

And consistency builds trust — with consumers, retailers, distributors, and partners.

In fact, Operations can become a true competitive advantage!

In this episode, Katie Mleziva (Real Food Brands) and Clint Matthews (Start Right Foods) sit down with Kyle Rood, co-founder of Start Right Foods, to explore why operational discipline isn't just efficiency — it's strategy.

Inside this conversation, you'll hear about:

• Why you should start with Operations in mind
• How small operational refinements can improve margins
• Why packaging and logistics decisions ripple further than you think
• The role of forecasting in protecting long-term growth
• How strong relationships reduce risk and create opportunity
• Why processes are critical to building your business
• How execution separates intention from impact
• Why these concepts are critical, whether you produce your own product or work with a co-manufacturer.

This episode will shift how you think about competitive advantage.

Process doesn't create perfection, but it does create consistency and efficiency!

WANT TO GO DEEPER?

Listening is helpful, but building is better!

1) Connect with Kyle Rood, Clint Matthews, and Katie Mleziva on LinkedIn.

2) Join Katie's weekly newsletter HERE to get the Weekly Worksheet for this episode, designed to help you build your own brand strategy workbook over time. You'll also get additional insights and reflections that aren't shared on the podcast.

3) Book a Brand Strategy Session. Once you're on the newsletter list, you can book a single Brand Strategy Session through the link in every Friday email.

Let's Go Shake Up Shopping Carts!

Katie Mleziva

Host & Food Brand Strategist

Real Food Brands

As your business grows and evolves, success can quietly create blind spots. Processes that once worked just fine may no longer fit the size or complexity of the business.

Places where processes are missing can become hidden constraints.

Decisions live in people's heads, and teams keep doing things a certain way simply because that's how they've always been done.

In this episode, Katie Mleziva (Real Food Brands) and Clint Matthews (Start Right Foods) explore why outside perspective - from the right sources - is so helpful and becomes more valuable as your business evolves.

Through real-world examples from startups to multi-million dollar businesses, Katie and Clint talk about what happens when "it's just how we've always done it" becomes the norm, but it's time to revisit something(s)...from sales systems and simple operational processes to understanding your consumer more deeply. They talk about how fresh eyes can help reveal what growth can cover up, and then silently hold you back.

This conversation is a reminder that leadership doesn't mean having all the answers. It means knowing when to surround yourself with a team to invite fresh perspective, challenge habits, and evolve how your business works so growth feels intentional and aligned with your vision.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• • Why growth naturally creates blind spots—even when things are going well
  • How habits and "the way we've always done it" can limit clarity over time
  • The value of outside perspective in sales, operations, and team communication
  • Why processes need to be revisited as your business grows
  • How fresh eyes can also lead to a closer consumer connection
  • Letting go of the lone-wolf mindset as a food business leader

WANT TO GO DEEPER?

Join Katie's weekly newsletter HERE to get the Weekly Worksheet for this episode, designed to help you build your own brand strategy workbook over time. You'll also get additional insights and reflections that aren't shared on the podcast.

This is also the only way to get the link for single Brand Strategy Sessions! (more on why that is in the episode)

Visit www.realfoodbrands.com to see how you can work with Katie & Clint to get an outside perspective on your food business, then reach out to Katie@RealFoodBrands.com.

126. The Power of a Fresh Perspective to Avoid Running in Circles (Katie's funny but related story about a run and a port-a-potty :)

Let's Go Shake Up Shopping Carts!

Katie Mleziva

As entrepreneurs many of us are quick to offer help—but far slower to ask for it. Can you relate?

But offering - and asking for - help in the right way can be a sign of strong leadership. Why not ask people who have been there or have the right tools to help us unlock the next level of success we're working towards?

In this episode, Katie Mleziva (Real Food Brands) and Clint Matthew's (Start Right Foods) reflect on several real-life stories that serve as important reminders for all of us: sometimes the thing slowing you down in reaching a goal isn't lack of effort, but resistance to accepting the right support.

From clearing snowy driveways to several bike crash stories (and bruised egos), this conversation explores why so many entrepreneurs default to "I've got this"—and how learning to accept help can create momentum, clarity, and connection.

What You'll Hear in This Episode

• A story that reveals how hard it can be to accept help—even when it's right in front of us
• Why entrepreneurs often default to fixing everything themselves
• How pride, instinct, or habit can quietly slow progress
• Why sometimes you're the helper—and sometimes you're the one who needs help
• How normalizing "what do you need?" can strengthen communities
• The role of trusted people, tools, and networks in building your business

A Key Takeaway

Accepting help isn't a weakness—it's a skill. When you allow others to support you (or when you step in to support someone else), you create space for better decisions, stronger relationships, and more aligned growth.

Need Help or Want to Connect?

If you're feeling stuck, unsure, or just need another perspective, reach out. Katie and Clint are always happy to share insights, experiences, or connections from their networks. Email katie@realfoodbrands.com

Join us in the Real Food Brands Marketing Round Table (a free Facebook Community) to exchange notes on what we all need in our businesses right now. You never know when the right connection is right there!

• Lessons From an Uphill Climb — from waaay back in the archives (Ep 61) but still very relevant to think that "races are won and lost on the hills" (i.e. when things get tough).

Each episode of the podcast is paired with a worksheet (emailed on Fridays) designed to help you apply what you're learning to your own business. These worksheets, along with 1:1 Brand Strategy Sessions, are available exclusively through Katie's email list, where you can save them over time and build your own brand strategy workbook—at the right pace, with the right information, at the right time.

👉 Join the email list to get the worksheet for this episode, access to single 1:1 Brand Strategy Sessions, and future resources to create your own Brand Workbook.

1. 📧 Katie's Friday Newsletter includes a Weekly Worksheet to help you apply these ideas directly to your food business. Sign up here. This is also the only way you can get access to single Brand Strategy Sessions (as of airing this is $149 for a 60 min session...check email for current pricing).

2. 💬 Join the Conversation! Tune in to the podcast, then join us in the Real Food Brands Marketing Round Table – a free food & farm business owner community – to ask questions and meet other people who love producing real food as much as you do!

Katie Mleziva

Host & Food Brand Strategist | Real Food Brands

Clint puts Katie in the hot seat and asks the questions many food business owners are thinking but don't want to ask.

Together, they break down what brand strategy really means, why it's often misunderstood, and how it helps food business owners make clearer, more confident decisions as they grow.

Clint also shares a simple but powerful real-world example that shows how positioning can change perception—and results—almost instantly.

This episode is less about definitions and more about helping you understand how brand strategy works in practice, what you should expect from the process, and how to know if it's the right next step for your business.

• What a brand strategist actually does—and why the role can look so different depending on background
• The difference between brand strategy, branding, and marketing
• How brand strategy acts as a North Star for decision-making across your business
• What food business owners get out of brand strategy work beyond deliverables
• How positioning and alignment impact everything from messaging to sales execution
• How to know if it's the right time to invest in brand strategy for your business

• Brand Pillars Episode
• Brand Positioning Episode
• Sales Series Spotify Playlist (5 episodes)

Each episode of the podcast is paired with a worksheet designed to help you apply what you're learning to your own business. These worksheets (along with 1:1 Brand Strategy Sessions!) are available exclusively through Katie's email list, where you can save them over time and build your own brand strategy workbook—at the right pace, with the right information, at the right time.

👉 Join the email list to get the worksheet for this episode and future tools

1. 📧 Katie's Friday Newsletter includes a Weekly Worksheet to help you apply these ideas directly to your food business. Sign up here.

2. 💬 Join the Conversation! Tune in to the podcast, then join us in the Real Food Brands Marketing Round Table – a free food & farm business owner community – to ask questions and meet other people who love producing real food as much as you do!

3. 📞 If you're ready to talk about building a clear, cohesive brand or integrating your brand + sales strategy, you can Request a free Intro Call to discuss the ways we work with food, farm, and natural product brands.

How one word can help you lean into who you were meant to be....leading to benefits in your business and beyond!

In brand strategy, we often talk about how a brand's essence can be distilled into a single word — the feeling that runs through everything. In this episode, I take that same idea and apply it to you as a leader, with your Word of the Year.

Instead of setting rigid resolutions, I share why choosing a Word of the Year can be a more powerful way to guide your mindset, focus, and everyday decisions — especially when your personal and professional lives are deeply intertwined, as they often are for entrepreneurs.

As an example, I reflect on my Word of the Year from last year, what it helped me reclaim, and how my word for this year builds on that foundation. You'll also hear examples of words others might choose, and a simple way to start thinking about what your word could be — not as a way to "fix" yourself, but to support who you're becoming.

• Why I don't rely on New Year's resolutions — and what works better for many people
• How a Word of the Year acts as a mini North Star for your decisions
• My Word of the Year last year, and what it helped me clarify
• My Word of the Year this year, and how it will guide how I show up
• Examples of words others might choose — and why there's no "right" one
• A simple starting point to reflect on what you want more (or less) of
• An invitation to share your word with me so I can check in and see how it's going (yes, I really do care!)

If you're looking for a more intentional way to set direction — in business and in life — this episode will give you ideas!

Get the free weekly worksheet that goes with each episode by joining the newsletter.

👉 Click this link or follow @realfoodbrands on Instagram + tap the link in the bio to sign up for my weekly newsletter.

If you missed a worksheet for a past episode, please send me an email or DM me @realfoodbrands on Instagram.

Katie & Clint help food business owners review their strategy, cut through noise, and move forward with a clear plan. Reply to the Weekly Newsletter or use the private scheduling link included each week to book a session.

1. 📧 Katie's Friday Newsletter includes a Weekly Worksheet to help you apply these ideas directly to your food business. Sign up here.

2. 💬 Join the Conversation! Tune in to the podcast, then join us in the Real Food Brands Marketing Round Table - a free food & farm business owner community - to ask questions and meet other people who love producing real food as much as you do!

3. 📞 If you're ready to talk about building a clear, cohesive brand or integrating your brand + sales strategy, you can Request a free Intro Call to discuss the ways we work with food, farm, and natural product brands.

Thanks for listening – let's go shake up shopping carts!

Katie Mleziva

Host & Food Brand Strategist | Real Food Brands