Brands don’t stall in Q4. They stall in Q2… and only realise it later.

While many food & drink brands wait until peak season to scale, smart brands use Q2 to build the foundations that drive predictable growth later in the year.

In Episode 21 of Fuelling Foodies: The Food Marketing Podcast, we break down what food & drink brands should actually be focusing on between April and June - what to test, where to invest, and what to stop wasting money on before Q4 arrives.

Because when peak season hits, it’s too late to fix your foundations.

Here’s what we cover:

• Why Q2 is the most important growth window for food & drink brands
• Why creative is now the biggest performance driver (not targeting)
• How bundles can increase AOV by 15–30%
• Why selling occasions converts better than selling products
• The biggest wasted spend we’re seeing right now
• Why acquiring new customers in Q4 is often the wrong strategy
• Why testing now leads to stronger Q4 performance

This episode is especially useful for food & drink brands doing £20K–£100K per month who want more predictable, profitable growth heading into peak season.

If you're planning for Q4, this episode is your Q2 roadmap.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

• Buy your #FUELLIVE tickets here!
• Download our free guide: The Email Playbook - How one food & drink brand made £56.7K in email sales (with no extra ad spend!)
• Ready to level up? Join the Food Marketing Club for more email strategies and support.
• Need help with marketing? Book a Strategy Call with Kate

Subscribe, share, and leave us a review if this episode made you rethink your strategy and tag us @kwmarketinguk to join the conversation.

In this episode of Fuelling Foodies: The Food & Drink Marketing Podcast, Kate sits down with Harriet, Co-Founder and Marketing Director of Penrhos Spirits - a beautifully British farm-led gin brand turning wonky fruit into premium spirits.

What started as a farming problem, £30,000 worth of unsellable strawberries, became the foundation for a challenger gin brand now stocked nationally in Sainsbury’s, sold across Amazon and travel retail, and recognised for its pioneering recycled aluminium packaging.

Harriet shares the honest story behind building a spirits brand from a family farm in Herefordshire, navigating one of the most competitive categories in food and drink, and the reality of scaling when your product suddenly lands on 400 supermarket shelves.

We spoke about:

1. The Penrhos origin story - how a surplus of fruit sparked the idea for a gin brand
2. Why provenance, transparency and “price with justification” matter more than ever
3. Standing out in the crowded gin category
4. What really happens after landing a national retail listing
5. The moment Penrhos aired its first Sky TV advert (and what it did for sales)
6. Community-led marketing: farm tours, “Sip & Walk” experiences and founder storytelling
7. The realities of scaling a family business - from big wins to “can we actually sustain this?” moments
8. Why collaborations, partnerships and email marketing are powerful growth levers for challenger brands

If you're building a food or drink brand right now, particularly in a competitive category, this episode is packed with real founder insight on how to grow while staying true to your brand!

LINKS & RESOURCES:

1. Follow @penrhosspirits and explore their premium spirits.
2. Join the Food Marketing Club for just £57/month - your monthly hub for digital marketing strategies, templates, and support
3. Want tailored strategy support? Book a Strategy Call with Kate
4. Follow @kwmarketinguk for food & drink marketing insights, email tips & digital strategy

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow founder building their brand — we love seeing how you're fuelling your growth 🔥

Email has been declared “dead” more times than we can count. But inside strong eCommerce food & drink brands? It’s still driving 25-40% of total revenue, and often the highest margin revenue too.

In Episode 19 of Fuelling Foodies, we go deep into what’s actually converting in 2026 and why email remains the most controllable, profitable channel you own.

Here’s what we cover:

1. Why “email is dead” is one of the most damaging myths in eCommerce
2. Owned audience vs rented audience (and why it matters more than ever)
3. The 30% Revenue Rule - what to fix if you’re not hitting it
4. The highest-converting flows: Welcome, Abandoned Cart & the most overlooked revenue driver…
5. Why repeat customers spend 65–70% more than new customers
6. Automation vs broadcasting (and how to use both properly)
7. Strategic list growth: giveaways, downloadable assets & capture-first thinking

We’ll show you how to build an email marketing strategy that increases revenue, improves retention, and turns first-time buyers into repeat customers.

Because if email isn’t driving 30%+ of your revenue, it’s not built properly.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

1. Download our free guide: The Email Playbook - How one food & drink brand made £56.7K in email sales (with no extra ad spend!)
2. Ready to level up? Join the Food Marketing Club for more email strategies and support.
3. Need help with marketing? Book a Strategy Call with Kate

Subscribe, share, and leave us a review if this episode made you rethink your strategy and tag us @kwmarketinguk to join the conversation.

Non-alcoholic wine is one of the fastest-growing categories in food & drink, but it’s also one of the most misunderstood.

In this episode of Fuelling Foodies, Kate sits down with Fiona & Alex, founders of Vino Zero, to unpack what’s really happening inside the non-alc wine space, from quality and consumer scepticism to explosive category growth and bold founder decisions.

From landing their first four pallets to supplying major hospitality venues and high-profile events, this is the inside story of building credibility in a rapidly evolving market.

Here’s what we cover:

1. The real reason non-alcoholic wine is booming (and why it’s not a fad)
2. Taste, trust & winning over sceptical consumers
3. The quality shift: what changed?
4. Building a multi-channel business across wholesale, trade & e-commerce.
5. Founder lessons: fast decisions, long-distance partnership & scaling in a new category
6. Our hot take: Will non-alcoholic outperform traditional alcohol in 2026?

If you’re building in a fast-growth category, navigating consumer behaviour shifts, or watching the rise of the sober-curious movement… this episode is essential listening.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

1. Follow @vinozerouk and explore their non-alcoholic wines.
2. Join the Food Marketing Club for just £57/month - your monthly hub for digital marketing strategies, templates, and support
3. Want tailored strategy support? Book a Strategy Call with Kate
4. Follow @kwmarketinguk for food & drink marketing insights, email tips & digital strategy

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a founder who’s planning a product launch this year 🔥

Launching a new product is risky, especially in snacking.

In this episode of Fuelling Foodies: The Food Marketing Podcast, Kate sits down with Louise, Founder of Popcorn Kitchen, to unpack the real story behind the launch of Crunch Corn - from spotting white space in the savoury snacking market to building momentum in Q1 and beyond.

This is a founder-level conversation about innovation, timing, and what actually matters when you’re expanding into a new category, without losing what made your brand successful in the first place.

Here’s what we cover:

1. How a trip to Seville inspired Crunch Corn, and why big, bold, savoury snacks were the opportunity.
2. Entering a new snacking category when your brand is known for gifting and sweet popcorn.
3. Consumer insight over hype: why size, crunch and flavour clarity mattered more than trends.
4. Early launch feedback from farm shops, pubs and DTC, and what surprised Louise most
5. Retail vs DTC strategy and how Popcorn Kitchen approached distribution
6. The power of tastings, real-time feedback, and learning fast
7. Hot take: why most brands launch new products at the wrong time

If you’re a food & drink founder planning a launch, expanding your range, or thinking about how to grow beyond your core bestseller, this episode is packed with honest insight and real-world lessons.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

1. Follow @popcornkitchen and explore Crunch Corn
2. Join the Food Marketing Club for just £57/month - your monthly hub for digital marketing strategies, templates, and support
3. Want tailored strategy support? Book a Strategy Call with Kate
4. Follow @kwmarketinguk for food & drink marketing insights, email tips & digital strategy

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a founder who’s planning a product launch this year 🔥

January is loud. Predictions. Hot takes. New “rules” every week.

But heading into 2026, what we’re seeing across food & drink brands isn’t noise - it’s pressure.

Pressure to grow. Pressure to be everywhere. Pressure from founders who’ve done the “right” things… and still aren’t seeing the results.

So in this episode of Fuelling Foodies: The Food Marketing Podcast, we're cutting through the chaos to share what we see first-hand inside real food & drink businesses - what’s actually working now, what’s quietly stopped working, and how smart brands are building stronger foundations for 2026 and beyond.

This is a no-fluff Marketing Mastery episode focused on quality growth, not loud growth.

1. Why paid ads are no longer a safety net in 2026, and what food brands need in place before spending a pound
2. The shift from loud growth to quality growth, and why traffic, reach, and virality don’t equal profit
3. How email marketing becomes your strongest revenue channel through retention, lifetime value, and post-purchase journeys
4. Why trust is now a performance metric, not a brand “nice to have”
5. What trust looks like in practice: founder-led content, organic social, stories, and smarter influencer use

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by platforms, trends, and advice, and want clarity on where to focus your energy in 2026, this is the episode for you.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

1. Read our 2026 Marketing Trends blog!
2. Join the Food Marketing Club for just £57/month - your monthly hub for TikTok strategies, templates, and content ideas
3. Want tailored strategy support? Book a Strategy Call with Kate
4. Follow @kwmarketinguk for TikTok, content, and food & drink marketing tips

If this episode inspired you, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow founder - we love seeing how you’re fuelling your growth 🔥

Taking on the giants of big food isn’t easy… but that’s exactly what Paul Brown did.

In this episode of Fuelling Foodies: The Food Marketing Podcast, Kate sits down with Paul Brown, founder of BOL Foods, to unpack how he turned bold decisions into one of the most exciting growth stories in food & drink.

Here’s what we cover:

1. The BOL origin story - where it all started, the mission behind the brand, and the pivotal moment that led to going fully plant-based
2. Repositioning the brand overnight - the decision to remove all meat, fish, and dairy, how the team responded, and why bold moves matter
3. Scaling with values intact - growing fast without losing authenticity, becoming an “energised lifestyle brand,” and keeping purpose and profitability aligned
4. The rise of Power Shakes - spotting the nutritionally complete meal trend early and building a category-leading range
5. Disrupting big food - why BOL is still growing while the wider plant-based category declines, and what other brands are getting wrong
6. UPFs & consumer trust - Paul’s stance on ultra-processed foods and how BOL balances convenience with clean, whole ingredients
7. Hot takes from the founder’s seat - the moments where risk turned into game-changing reward, and what every founder can learn from them

If you’re building a food & drink brand that wants to innovate, stand out, and scale with integrity… this episode is one you’ll want to take notes on.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

1. Learn more about BOL Foods
2. Join the Food Marketing Club for just £57/month - your monthly hub for digital marketing strategies, templates, and support
3. Want tailored strategy support? Book a Strategy Call with Kate
4. Follow @kwmarketinguk for food & drink marketing insights, email tips & digital strategy

If this episode inspired you, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow founder - it helps us fuel even more foodies 🔥

TikTok isn’t about going viral anymore... it’s about creating content that sells.

In this episode of Fuelling Foodies: The Food Marketing Podcast, Kate sits down with Laura and Phoebe to break down the TikTok Formula that food & drink brands are using right now to build reach, community, and revenue.

Here’s what we cover:

• Why TikTok still wins for food brands: discovery, community, authenticity, and why follower growth no longer matters
• The winning content formula (HOOK → VALUE → PROOF → CTA) and how to structure videos that actually convert
• Entertainment Score: why entertaining content generates 4.5x more reach and outperforms traditional product push videos
• What to post (and how often) without burning out - from lo-fi content to batching, content pillars, and keyword-first captions
• Hashtags are dead: how TikTok’s search-first algorithm actually works in 2025 & beyond
• Turning views into revenue: TikTok Shop, linking strategies, pixels, and creator partnerships that drive 3x more views
• Our hot takes: real campaigns from real food brands that generated actual sales (not just likes)

If you’ve been trying to figure out why your TikTok isn’t converting or how to use it to grow your food brand... this episode is a must-listen!

LINKS & RESOURCES:

• Join the Food Marketing Club for just £57/month - your monthly hub for TikTok strategies, templates, and content ideas
• Want tailored strategy support? Book a Strategy Call with Kate
• Follow @kwmarketinguk for TikTok, content and food & drink marketing tips

If this episode inspired you, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow founder - we love seeing how you’re fuelling your growth 🔥