Episode 115
July 19, 2022

The Inside Scoop

with Kailey Donewald, Founder and CEO of Sacred Serve

About this episode

Kailey Donewald joins the show today to share her journey to becoming the Founder and CEO of Sacred Serve, a vegan, gluten-free, plant-powered line of gelato. In this episode, Kailey shares with us her journey from growing up playing sports and the oboe, to working as a real estate consultant for Deloitte, to taking a sabbatical to India and Bali. We talk about the omnipresent pressure she feels as an entrepreneur, how she started the company with a broken soft serve machine, and the mental challenges she's had to overcome as a solo female founder.

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In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

  • (1:17) Sacred Serve is bringing function into the frozen aisle by using a base of organic young coconut meat, combined with superfoods, adaptogens, and medicinal mushrooms.
  • (3:10) What it was like growing up in Chicago playing sports and different instruments
  • (8:20) How she graduated college and worked at Deloitte, then took a sabbatical to India which led to her passion for holistic nutrition and inspired her to create Sacred Serve. 
  • (13:40) How changing her diet while in India made her realize a change in her asthma and allergies
  • (22:20) How she discovered young coconut meat which is the hero ingredient for Sacred Serve
  • (30:30) Her go-to-market strategy, and the challenges faced in getting into Whole Foods
  • (32:00) Her experience getting to be part of the Good Food Accelerator program
  • (42:00) What’s next for Sacred Serve from new flavors, new products, and a packaging change 

To Find Out More:

https://www.sacredserve.com/ 

Quotes:

“One of the biggest roadblocks to changing careers in becoming an entrepreneur was actually the perception that I felt other people had of me.”

“I think it comes down to the microbiome in the gut.”

“The juice fast break just mentally and physically was such a recharge for me.”

“I'm always just the most interested in how we feel as humans how our food is making us feel, and really listening and tuning into our bodies to understand”

“With this high price point, we needed to make sure that every touchpoint was elevated.”

“I became extremely comfortable with the story, storytelling is the biggest thing in talking about the traction of the brand.”

“When you’re dealing with these category buyers, it's important to get someone on your team that has those relationships.”

“It is incredibly challenging and the early days take all of you.”

“One of the biggest things I've learned through this journey is that if you're not careful you can really get lost in working a ton and giving up a ton.”

“When you're dedicating a lot to this, it can't just be for money, it can't just be for clout, you really have to be dedicated and want something big to happen and make a difference from this.”

“In starting a company, it's gonna take three to four years before you're gonna actually be doing the things you wanna be doing.”

Read the transcript

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