Founder Feature: Liv Truesdell of FROST Buttercream

The Startup CPG Podcast

Startup CPG

Startup, Food, Business, Beverage, Cpg, Entrepreneurship

4.9 • 642 Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, Caitlin Bricker interviews Liv Truesdell, founder of FROST Buttercream, an emerging brand bringing bakery-quality, meringue-based buttercream to retail shelves with fewer ingredients, less sugar, and a noticeably elevated taste profile. Liv shares her journey from investment banking to building a family-run food business, working alongside her mother as co-founder, and developing a product designed to meet consumer demand for cleaner, less cloying desserts.

The conversation highlights how FROST approaches formulation, packaging, and education in a category where most consumers are unaware that conventional “buttercream” often contains no real butter. Liv explains the complexities of producing meringue-based buttercream at scale, the trade-offs of small-batch manufacturing, and the brand’s thoughtful expansion into retail, demos, and eventually food service—all while maintaining quality and operational discipline.

The episode also touches on early wins, from a Startup CPG Shelfie Award to distribution in notable New York City retailers, as well as strategic collaborations that have helped introduce the product to new audiences. Throughout, Liv reflects on the importance of community, consumer feedback, and patience when navigating the challenges of an early-stage CPG business.

Listen in as they share about:

The inspiration and development behind FROST Buttercream
Why meringue-based buttercream stands apart from standard formulations
Educating consumers in a category with entrenched expectations
Strategic retail expansion and the role of demos in adoption
Operational realities of small-batch production and scaling
Early collaborations, brand recognition, and retail partnerships
Lessons learned during the first year of building a CPG company

Episode Links:

Website: https://frostbuttercream.com/
Instagram: @frostbuttercream

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.

Show Links:

Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)
Join the Startup CPG Slack community (20K+ members and growing!)
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Visit host Caitlin's Linkedin
Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
Episode music by Super Fantastics

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

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. So frosting is a very controversial food, which I've come to learn.
1:04.2	People either completely love it or you'll have people walk up to you in a demo and say,
1:09.2	I scrape the frosting off my cake. I will never buy Sorbought frosting. And that's where I stop them. And I'm like, well, listen, this frosting is a lot less sweet than your typical frosting. It's got 57% less sugar. It's real butter. And they'll try it and they'll say, oh, wow, I normally am a'm a frosting critic, and I really like this.
1:34.1	Hey, everybody. This is Caitlin Bricker, managing editor at startup CPG. We are back with another founder of founder of Frost Buttercream, an all-natural buttercream frosting made
1:41.4	with real butter, real egg whites, and way less sugar than traditional
1:46.0	frosting. Liv went from investment banking to small batch buttercream production alongside her
1:51.3	mom as co-founder. In just a year since launching, Frost has won a startup CPG Shelfy Award and
1:57.6	landed in retailers like Fairway Market and Butterfield Market.
2:01.6	We'll talk about why frosting is surprisingly controversial, what makes meringue-based
2:06.1	buttercream different, and live strategic approach to scaling.
2:09.9	And if you're wondering if I'm licking my lips throughout this episode because they're dry
2:13.6	or if it's because I want frost, I'll leave that up to your imagination.
2:18.5	Enjoy.
	...

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