Founder Feature: Amie Kesler of Carolyn's Krisps
The Startup CPG Podcast
Startup CPG
4.9 • 642 Ratings
🗓️ 19 December 2025
⏱️ 31 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, Caitlin Bricker speaks with Amie Kesler, founder of Carolyn’s Krisps—a rapidly growing, better-for-you snack brand reinventing a cherished family recipe into a modern, dairy-free and gluten-free product line. What began as a nostalgic cheddar crisp made by Amie’s grandmother has evolved into a differentiated portfolio of sweet and savory snacks defined by unique texture, bold flavor profiles, and a strong emphasis on inclusivity and quality.
Amie discusses the early days of the business—from hand-rolling dough and selling through a cubicle sign-up sheet to operating a self-manufactured brand in its fourth commercial facility. She shares how a disciplined, incremental approach to R&D and retail allowed Carolyn’s Krisps to scale without compromising its product integrity or financial fundamentals.
The conversation explores what it means to build a brand with intention: leveraging independent retailers as strategic partners, investing in operational efficiency, navigating pack size and pricing decisions, and planning for regional expansion. Amie also reflects on the importance of maintaining a strong brand identity while introducing innovative formats, including seasonal chocolate bark and nostalgic flavor combinations.
In addition, she provides valuable insights from opening Carolyn’s Krisps’ pop-up snack shop—a curated retail environment featuring other emerging brands. Making the shift from founder to buyer has reshaped her perspective on relationship-building, product presentation, pricing, and communication, offering lessons that are applicable for CPG operators at all stages.
Listen in as they share about:
- The evolution of Carolyn’s Krisps from family recipe to commercial product line
- Developing better-for-you snacks driven by nostalgia, taste, and texture
- Scaling manufacturing responsibly while maintaining product quality
- Leveraging independent retailers and community-driven growth
- Pricing, pack architecture, and trade spend considerations for retail expansion
- Insights gained from operating a pop-up retail space
- Best practices for brand communication, follow-up, and relationship management
- Creating memorable customer experiences through thoughtful details
- Exploring new formats and limited-run innovations
Episode Links:
Website: https://www.carolynskrisps.com/
Instagram: @carolynskrisps
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahkesler/Â
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Show Links:
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- Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
- Episode music by Super Fantastics
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A few years back when I ran a beverage company, we had to launch using those plastic sleeves to put our designs on the cans. |
| 0:08.0 | But they looked bad, the sleeves get stretched out, they don't cover the full can, and overall they just look and feel low quality. |
| 0:14.0 | Lucky for you, digital can printing technology has come so far over the last few years that now you can launch your beverage brand or new skews with a fully |
| 0:21.7 | printed look and it's at similar pricing to those plastic sleeves. |
| 0:25.3 | Our friends at CanWorks, which is the largest U.S.-based digital can printer, are happy to work with |
| 0:30.1 | our community at very low minimums, even one palette. |
| 0:32.9 | They've got locations in the East Coast, the West Coast, Texas. |
| 0:36.0 | Get in touch with them through our contact form. |
| 0:38.2 | It's at canworksprinting.com slash startup CPG. |
| 0:42.7 | Thank you. When it started, it was very grassroots. |
| 1:02.1 | Like, I started in Chicago, I think Chicago is one of the best cities to start a CPG brand in just from the community and like even location in the country because we're, you know, right in the center. |
| 1:12.5 | But it was really starting with a lot of independent retailers and testing. |
| 1:16.6 | Like my philosophy with everything is just this incremental test. |
| 1:21.0 | Like I always want to test small and just get the feedback and then reiterate and keep going. |
| 1:27.8 | Hey everybody. This is Caitlin Bericker, editor at startup CPG. We are back with another founder |
| 1:33.6 | feature. Today we're talking with Amy Kessler, founder of Carolyn's Crisps, a dairy-free, |
| 1:39.1 | gluten-free cookie cracker hybrid that started as her grandmother's cheddar crisp recipe. |
| 1:44.9 | After selling them from her cubicle, Amy spent the pandemic reimagining her grandmother Carolyn's |
| 1:49.7 | recipe with better for you ingredients while keeping the soul of what made them special. |
| 1:54.8 | From hand-rolling every batch in her home kitchen to moving into her fourth commercial space |
| 1:59.5 | that's quadruple the size. |
| 2:01.7 | She's building a business that honors food is a love language. |
... |
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