Ask anyone trying to scale a food brand and they’ll tell you the same thing: it’s hard to grow without a plan. Cullen Gilchrist, founder and CEO of Union Kitchen, knows this challenge well. Over the past decade, he’s helped launch and grow over 250 food businesses—from neighborhood staples to nationally recognized brands like WTRMLN WTR & Caribe Juice, Compass Coffee, Snacklins, and MasPanadas.
His advice to early-stage founders is clear: if you want to grow, you need structure. In a recent conversation, Cullen laid out what it really takes to build a successful food business.
“Too often, people are chasing growth before they understand what their business is really built on,” Cullen says. “At Union Kitchen, we help entrepreneurs slow down in the right ways—so they can move fast when it counts.”
For Union Kitchen, that means guiding founders through a four phased approach to growth. Founders start by making their product in Union Kitchen's shared commercial kitchen, learning how to run efficient production and get real-time feedback from customers. Then they build out distribution locally with Union Kitchen's distribution partners, District Distribution, test pricing, packaging, and positioning—and only after that, start scaling into regional and national retail.
It's not theoretical. It’s the path companies like Maspanadas followed to land on the shelves of Whole Foods, Costco, Giant Foods, and Target.
“Growing in phases gives founders space to learn and iterate towards what customers want,” Cullen explains. “It also builds stronger margins and a better business when you're owning your manufacturing. You’re not constantly scrambling to fix problems while trying to scale.”
Equally important: owning your manufacturing. From day one, Union Kitchen has helped founders produce their own products—first in a shared kitchen, and for many, later in their own facilities. Vegetable + Butcher, Compass Coffee, Jesse & Ben's, Maspandas, all have their own facilities in the greater Washington, DC area. This hands-on experience gives entrepreneurs more control over cost, quality, and timeline. It also allows them to innovate faster and keep their margins healthier than brands that outsource production too early.
“The most successful food companies we work with all have this in common,” Cullen says. “They own their process. They know how to make their product, they know what it costs, and they’ve built a business model that works.”
More than 50 Union Kitchen brands have made it onto the shelves of major retailers like Giant Food. Brands like Myles Comfort Food, Susou Water, and Snacklins all started small—often in a single store, often with one or two SKUs. But with structure, support, and strategy, they grew into something bigger.
For the founder still selling at the farmer’s market or dropping off orders at a few local stores, the leap to grocery chains can feel out of reach. But Cullen would argue that with the right system—and the right partners—it’s entirely possible.
“You don’t need to raise millions of dollars or be everywhere all at once,” he says. “You need to make a great product, get it into people’s hands, and build a business you can actually run. We help you do that.”
Check out the full episode with Cullen Gilchrist and hear more of his advice on the podcast Startup to Scale here: Building a Sustainable Food and Beverage Business Through Manufacturing
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