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OPRAH | O MAGAZINE | GOOD MORNING AMERICA | CNBC | INSTYLE
what i do
Does this sound familiar?
“Why am I not further ahead by now?”
“Why am I killing myself and still barely making money?”
“Why does everyone else seem to figure this out?”
“Why does it always feel like survival mode?”
These are the conversations food founders have with themselves long before they ever talk to someone like me.
I know because I had them too.
Sometimes you get so buried in the day-to-day that you cannot see what is actually keeping the business stuck. You keep pushing harder, assuming the next opportunity, retailer, product, or piece of visibility will finally change everything.
Sometimes it does.
Most of the time, the real problem is something much less obvious.
That is where I come in.
I help food founders figure out what is actually holding the business back, whether that is pricing, packaging, messaging, product direction, retail strategy, or simply focusing on the wrong things entirely.
I am not here to tell you what you want to hear.
I am here to tell you the truth about what is working, what is not, and what needs to happen next.
Because once a business finally makes sense, everything gets easier:
the decisions, the marketing, the growth, the momentum.
You are the brand.
I am the person who has been where you are, built a food business from scratch to a successful exit, and knows what it takes to get unstuck.
what happens when we work together
The first thing that usually happens is relief.
Not because everything suddenly becomes easy overnight, but because for the first time in a long time, someone is finally looking at the business objectively.
Most food founders are too close to their business to see clearly anymore. You are making decisions while exhausted, overwhelmed, emotionally attached, financially stressed, and buried in the day-to-day.
That makes it very difficult to see what is actually working, what is not, and where the real problems are coming from.
That is where I come in.
We start by slowing things down and looking at the business honestly.
Not just the product.
Not just the branding.
Not just social media.
The entire picture.
Sometimes the problem is pricing.
Sometimes it is packaging.
Sometimes it is retail strategy.
Sometimes the business has simply become too reactive and disconnected from its original strengths.
Most founders are trying to fix symptoms while missing the actual issue underneath.
My job is to help you identify what is keeping the business stuck, what deserves your attention, what does not, and what needs to happen next.
After working together, founders usually stop feeling like they are reacting to the business all day long.
They finally understand:
what is actually holding the business back
where to focus their time and money
which opportunities are worth pursuing
what is distracting them
why growth has not felt sustainable
what needs to happen next
Because once the business starts making sense, the decisions get easier.
And when the decisions get easier, everything changes.
By the end of our work together, most founders feel clearer, calmer, and far more confident in the decisions they are making.
You stop guessing.
You stop chasing everything.
And you finally start moving forward with intention.
hard truths about building a food business
You cannot make up for bad margins with volume.
Growth can hide problems.
Big retailers can hurt you.
Visibility does not fix broken economics.
Founders get buried emotionally.
Businesses can look successful while quietly struggling.
And scaling something broken usually just breaks it faster.
about lori
I wasn’t always a strategist. I was a customer.
I bought We Take The Cake with no food industry background, no culinary degree, and no roadmap. What I did have was an operator’s instinct, a strong work ethic, and a refusal to guess my way through important decisions.
The first two years were hard. The month we made a $19 profit, I was genuinely proud because it meant we were building something real.
Then Oprah named us one of her Favorite Things.
Over the next 16 years, I turned that opportunity into long-term partnerships with Williams Sonoma, Goldbelly, Neiman Marcus, QVC, 1-800-Flowers, and Whole Foods.
But what mattered most was what I learned behind the scenes:
a big order is not the same as a profitable order, growth does not fix broken systems, and founders with great products still get stuck every day.
That is why I started Karmel & Company.
speak your language because I’ve lived it.
I
when the right question changes everything
Jamie had been building her performance nutrition brand for seven years. Great product. Real credentials. A loyal following. And a brand name that made complete sense to her — and no one else.
Here's how she described what happened next:
"Behind the scenes over the past few months, I've been working with a business consultant who asked me a simple question that honestly stopped me in my tracks: What is The Office Health? I started explaining that I own a gym called The Office, and that The Office Health felt like a natural extension for the wellness side of the business. Then she said, 'Well what if I don't know you own a gym?' I knew where she was going with this and panic immediately set in at the thought of having to change the name of my business. She kept bringing me back to the Unicorn — our icon, the symbol people always remembered. That question had my creativity swirling. Needless to say, I strongly agreed to her suggestion and ran with it."
— Jamie Maitland, Founder, The Unicorn Co.
That's the work. Not telling her what to do. Asking what she hadn't thought to ask herself.
work with me
the 90 day engagement
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A focused 90-day engagement for food operators who are ready for outside eyes on their business. Four structured calls, email access between sessions, a written strategy summary after our kickoff, and a 48-hour response guarantee. We work through your numbers, your channel, your positioning, and your next move — in that order.
By the end of our work together, you will usually have:
a much clearer direction for the business
defined priorities
honest feedback about what is and is not working
a better understanding of where your time and money should go
a strategy that actually fits your business
a written action plan you can use moving forward
Most founders leave feeling clearer, calmer, and far more confident in the decisions they are making.
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IWe spend 90 minutes diving deep into the realities of your business. Together, we’ll look at the hard data, your channel assumptions, and the decisions you’ve been making on instinct—asking the tough questions that your partners, customers, and your own optimism usually bypass. By the end of this call, the fog will clear. You’ll leave with absolute certainty about what’s working, what isn't, and exactly what needs to change first.
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$2,500 for the full 90-day engagement.
This is not a course, not a template, and not a one-hour pep talk. It's a real working relationship with someone who has built, scaled, and exited a food business — and who will tell you the truth about yours.
Ready to clear the fog? Click below to book your call.
(If you're not ready for that conversation yet, start with The Playbook at $97. It will either answer your question or show you exactly what to bring to our first call.)
the playbook
Not ready to talk yet? Start here.
Most food founders are so deep in the day-to-day that they lose the ability to see the business objectively anymore.
The Food Founder Playbook was designed to help you step back, identify what may actually be holding the business back, and start making clearer, more intentional decisions moving forward.
This is not just something you read.
It is a working document built around guided questions, exercises, and the same patterns I see repeatedly when founders come to me feeling overwhelmed, reactive, and unsure what to focus on next.
The goal is not to give you more information.
The goal is to help you finally see the business more clearly, understand what needs your attention, and know which actions to take next.
$97 — instant access.