{"id":9237,"date":"2026-03-23T11:53:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=9237"},"modified":"2026-03-23T11:53:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:53:32","slug":"bringing-big-food-energy-to-a-travis-kelce-backed-cult-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=9237","title":{"rendered":"Bringing \u2018Big Food\u2019 energy to a Travis Kelce-backed cult brand\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"content-chunk\">\n<p><em>Hello and welcome to\u00a0<\/em>Modern\u00a0CEO<em>!\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of\u202f<\/em>Inc.<em>\u202fand\u202f<\/em>Fast Company<em>. If you\u00a0received\u00a0this newsletter from a friend, you can\u202f<\/em><em>sign up to get it yourself<\/em><em>\u202fevery Monday morning.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p>When\u00a0Valerie Oswalt\u00a0became CEO of\u00a0breakfast and\u00a0snack products\u00a0company Kodiak\u00a0in November 2022, she\u00a0inherited\u00a0a\u00a0fast-growing\u00a0business with beloved products,\u00a0dedicated\u00a0employees, and\u00a0an outdoorsy vibe, befitting its Park City, Utah,\u00a0headquarters. She also\u00a0walked into a company that\u00a0needed to bolster the talent,\u00a0tools, and\u00a0systems\u00a0needed\u00a0to scale the company.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Her challenge: bring\u00a0the discipline and knowledge\u00a0she\u2019d\u00a0acquired\u00a0during leadership stints at consumer packaged goods (CPG) giants such as\u00a0The Campbell\u2019s Company\u00a0and\u00a0Mondel\u0113z\u202fInternational\u00a0without losing\u00a0the nimbleness and authenticity that\u00a0had made Kodiak\u00a0a household name.\u00a0\u201cIt was a powerhouse brand\u00a0that had a\u00a0startup\u00a0mindset,\u201d Oswalt recalls.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"content-chunk\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-recipe-for-success\">A recipe for success<\/h2>\n<p>Kodiak\u00a0has classic\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inc.com\/emily-canal\/kodiak-cakes-shark-tank.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">entrepreneurial roots<\/a>.\u00a0Founder and former CEO Joel Clark started selling his mother\u2019s homemade whole-grain pancake mix as an 8-year-old. The company catapulted to national attention when an episode of\u00a0ABC\u2019s \u201cShark Tank\u201d\u00a0featuring Clark and\u00a0cofounder Cameron Smith\u00a0aired in 2014.\u00a0Kodiak\u00a0passed on\u00a0a\u00a0deal\u00a0with the Sharks, but the publicity and the launch of protein-packed pancakes boosted sales.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Private equity firm\u00a0L\u00a0Catterton\u00a0acquired\u00a0Kodiak in 2021, and Oswalt became CEO 17\u00a0months later, replacing cofounder Clark, who\u00a0remains\u00a0chairman\u00a0of the\u00a0company\u2019s board of directors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To support Kodiak\u2019s growth,\u00a0Oswalt, who ran Campbell\u2019s\u00a0$4 billion\u00a0snack division prior to joining Kodiak,\u00a0brought in\u00a0leaders with\u00a0key\u00a0experience in certain areas. She\u00a0revamped\u00a0the performance review process and instituted a new incentive plan tied to financial outcomes.\u00a0(All 160 full-time employees have equity in the company.)\u202f\u201cThere were more processes that needed to be put in place than I had originally anticipated,\u201d\u00a0she\u00a0recalls.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/91509825\/bringing-big-food-energy-to-a-travis-kelce-backed-cult-brand\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello and welcome to\u00a0Modern\u00a0CEO!\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of\u202fInc.\u202fand\u202fFast Company. If you\u00a0received\u00a0this newsletter from a friend, you can\u202fsign up to get it yourself\u202fevery Monday morning.\u00a0 When\u00a0Valerie Oswalt\u00a0became CEO of\u00a0breakfast and\u00a0snack<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brand-spotlights"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}