Food brands & distribution
When is a food brand ready for wholesale?
Assess food brand wholesale readiness through repeatable production, delivered margin, shelf life, packaging, buyer terms and reorder demand.
Who we advise · Food Brands
Food brand and frozen dessert consulting, from product to growth.
Food brand consulting connects a product’s appeal with production, pricing and the channels that can support the business. Leviathan advises frozen dessert shops and packaged food founders on product direction, shop operations and growth into new channels.
Let’s chat.
Banana Daddy · Photography by Jordan Frey · Credits
Who this is for
Ice cream and soft serve shops · Packaged food and beverage · Consumer packaged goods · Product development
Based in South Florida, Daniel brings firsthand ownership experience as the founder of the award-winning ice cream company Dasher & Crank.
Planning
Build a product with a reason to be chosen.
Define why someone will choose the product and when they will buy it. Review the recipe, production method and unit economics together before committing to packaging, equipment or a supplier.
Start with Research & Feasibility to examine demand and the cost of making the product.
Explore planning services
- Business plan and investor materials
- Direction on a plan and a deck that a lender or investor can underwrite.
- Capital strategy
- How much the project needs, and the trade-offs between debt, partners and outside investors.
- Permitting and licensing guidance
- What is required and when, so approvals sit on the schedule from the start.
- Schedule and budget review
- Regular checks on timeline and spend, with early warning when either slips.
- Product concept and positioning
- Define the occasion, customer and reason to choose the product before expanding the range.
- Recipe and formulation direction
- Guide recipe development around flavor, consistency and the production method.
- Unit economics and pricing
- Review ingredients, packaging and channel costs to understand contribution at the intended price.
- Co-packer and supplier sourcing guidance
- Assess production partners for capability, quality control and workable supply terms.
Launch
Match the launch to the way you will sell.
A shop opening and a packaged product launch have different requirements. Review the production flow, team preparation and release plan against the channel you intend to serve first.
Our Launch advice considers the production and service demands of the first channel.
Explore launch services
- Critical path and pre-opening budget
- One plan with an owner and a date for every task.
- Training plan
- A day-by-day curriculum your managers deliver.
- First 90 days plan
- The numbers to watch each week and the fixes to make first.
- Weekly sales, labor and cost review
- Results checked against the plan while there is still time to adjust.
- Menu and pricing adjustments
- What guests ordered against what you planned, and what to change.
- Manager routines
- The meetings, checklists and reports that hold standards after opening.
- Punch list and guest feedback
- Open issues ranked by what guests notice.
- Shop opening guidance for ice cream and soft serve
- Review equipment, production flow and service readiness for the shop you intend to run.
Growth
Make the next channel earn its place.
Assess what changes when a product reaches another shop, wholesale account or catering customer. Review the margin and production demands of each channel before increasing the commitment.
Use Growth & Expansion to assess wholesale, retail and additional shops on their own operating terms.
Explore growth services
- Purchasing and vendor review
- Where rebidding pays and where it does not.
- Expansion readiness review
- Whether unit economics, leadership and systems can carry a second location.
- Multi-unit growth plan and site criteria
- Where to go next and what a site must have.
- Franchise and licensing strategy
- Whether to franchise, license or stay company-owned.
- Management, lease and license structures
- Deal terms weighed from the operating side, alongside your attorney.
- Investor and capital preparation
- The materials and the numbers a growth investor will ask for.
- Sale and exit preparation
- The business put in order before a buyer looks at it.
- Retail, wholesale and catering channel strategy
- Compare channel economics and operating demands before committing to distribution.
Selected experience
Brands and venues from Daniel Levine's operating career and Leviathan's client work.
- Dasher & Crank
- Banana Daddy
Recognition
Concepts Daniel founded or led.
Related insights
Questions worth working through.
Common questions
Before you get in touch.
Do you advise ice cream and soft serve businesses?
Yes. We advise on the decisions that connect a frozen dessert concept with a viable shop operation. That includes product positioning, formulation direction and unit economics, followed by guidance on the opening. Daniel’s background as the founder of an ice cream company informs the operating questions, without replacing the technical expertise a particular product or facility may require.
Can you help take a food product into wholesale or retail?
Yes. We review whether a proposed channel fits the product and the business behind it. Wholesale and retail can change the margin, packaging and production demands compared with selling directly to a guest. Our guidance helps owners assess those implications and compare channel priorities before committing to wider distribution or additional production capacity.
Do you help with production partners and suppliers?
Yes. We provide guidance on co-packer and supplier sourcing as part of the operating plan. The review considers what the product requires and how a prospective partner fits the intended volume, quality and channel. Owners should involve the relevant food safety and technical specialists in validating production requirements and any claims made about the finished product.
Can you advise a food brand with an existing shop?
Yes. We review how the shop, product economics and growth plans fit together. An established shop can provide useful evidence about demand and production, but a new channel may create different operating requirements. We help owners examine those differences and prioritize the changes needed before adding locations, wholesale accounts or other routes to market.
Start a conversation
Where should your food brand go next?
Tell us about the product, how you sell it today and the shop or channel you are considering.
Let’s chat.