Episode 237: Kai's Transparent Take on Building Your Biz Conscientiously
The CPG industry remains OPAQUE in many ways. It can feel HARD to enter it prepared. That's why we're thrilled to have Kai Nortey, the CEO & Co-Founder of kubé, PBC (Public Benefit Corporation) join us to bring a transparent look at how she has built her business to work for her.
kubé is a Black woman-owned artisanal, premium, and luxurious full-fat coconut ice cream womanfacturer and social enterprise, based in Oakland, California. They make their own clean, full-fat coconut cream from mature coconuts, then blend it with organic plant-based food ingredients. You'll hear all about:
🍨 The lessons that Kai learned directly from founders in the ice cream category
🍨 What building the biz their way has meant for them and their community
🍨 Some of the challenges of taking VC when you are a values and mission-forward brand
🍨 And how important it is to find truly values-aligned partners to support your brand and its mission
🍨 Wizes, part II of this episode will be in episode 238 next week. Before then, we want to hear from you in our Instagram or LinkedIn DMs: was there something in this episode that surprised you or that you needed to hear?
📨 Find the Food Biz Wiz team on Instagram or LinkedIn here!
👉 Check out Carla Titus with Wealth & Worth Within here!
MEET KAI NORTEY, CEO & CO-FOUNDER OF KUBÉ ICE CREAM:
Kai Nortey is the CEO & Co-Founder of kubé. kubé, PBC ( Public Benefit Corporation) is a Black woman-owned artisanal, premium, and luxurious full-fat coconut ice cream womanfacturer (small scale), social enterprise, and brand in Oakland California (since 2016). We are licensed by the California Department of Food & Agriculture. We make our own clean, full-fat coconut cream from mature coconuts, then blend with organic plant-based food ingredients. We pre-package small, 5oz size containers of our six popular flavors and sell B2B and B2C. We also have a triple bottom line in restorative economics & food justice, racial & gender equity, and environmental sustainability (where we donate our coconut byproducts to Deep medicine Circle Farm in Monterey).
Kai is also a visionary and socially conscious, Black woman, business leader who is tenaciously building restorative and regenerative food justice models without synthetic chemicals. As a youth, Kai grew up with a huge organic vegetable and fruit garden in Oakland, California, and loved eating fresh fruit and greens from her backyard. She learned about restorative and regenerative food models that provided healing minerals and healthy fats to the body, without the need for synthetic chemicals.
Kai comes from an interdisciplinary background in social work, biology, biotech cancer research, marketing communications, and healthy food models that do not depend on pesticides or synthetic chemicals. After Kai became lactose intolerant in 2009, Kai gave up dairy, and eventually became vegan. At kubé, we are licensed by the California Department of Food & Agriculture. We make our own clean, full-fat coconut cream, from mature coconuts, then blend with organic plant-based food ingredients. We pre-package small, 5oz size containers of our six popular flavors and sell B2B and B2C.
She also learned that the more people ate dairy the more likely they were to develop cancers. She decided to make the most luxurious, artisanal, vegan, full-fat coconut ice cream in various plant-flavors. Customers are amazed by how much kubé tastes like dairy ice cream without any coconut flavoring. At kubé, Kai and her team produce their own clean, full-fat, organic coconut cream by cold-pressing mature coconuts to make the most luxurious, vegan, full-fat coconut ice cream in various clean and bold plant-based flavors from fruit, seed(i.e.,vanilla), espresso, roots, essential oil and citrus essential oils.
Find kubé at their site here, on Instagram, on Facebook, and on X here!
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