This Is TASTE 751: Inside the Mind, and Shopping Cart, of a Food VC with Elly Truesdell
Mar 27, 2026
Elly Truesdell, former Whole Foods leader turned food-and-beverage venture investor, and Jake Carls, cofounder of Midday Squares and refrigerated functional chocolate maker. They dig into where food investing is headed, snacking and format innovation, manufacturing and vertical integration, storytelling and retail strategy, and the realities of building scalable CPG businesses.
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Investor Narratives Can't Replace Consumer Love
- Tech-driven product launches fail when they ignore whether consumers actually want worse-tasting or costlier alternatives.
- Elly criticizes parts of the plant-based/food-tech boom for prioritizing investor narratives over consumer repeat purchase.
Don't Launch Hoping To Iterate Your Way To Success
- Avoid launching with a product you plan to 'iterate into' consumer love; first impressions in food are decisive.
- Elly emphasizes consumers have many choices and won't return if initial taste or utility is off.
Food As A Solution To Loneliness
- Food can be a deliberate antidote to loneliness by creating communal physical experiences and membership-driven dining.
- Elly points to new restaurant concepts and pop-ups as places that intentionally bring people together.