From the Coca-Cola Co. to selling cookies out of the car trunk – follow along with the Food Institute Podcast as we retrace Denise Woodard’s steps in bringing Partake Foods from an idea to a snack company that’s raised $7.5 million. Woodard shares her personal reasons for creating allergen-free snacks, working with various accreditation bodies, the challenges she faced as a woman- and BIPOC-owned food company, key learnings for upstart food companies, and what direction Partake is going in 2021.
Hosted By: Chris Campbell
Recorded: Feb. 8, 2021
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More About Denise Woodard:
Denise Woodard is the Founder/CEO of Partake, a line of allergy-friendly snacks inspired by her daughter’s experience with food allergies. Since launching in July 2017, Partake’s first product – delicious, nutritious, allergy-friendly cookies – can be found in over 2,500 retailers including Target, Sprouts, and Whole Foods Market. The company has been featured by People, Black Enterprise and Entrepreneur and, in June 2019 closed a seed round of funding led by JAY-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners.
Prior to launching Partake, Denise spent a decade in consumer packaged goods at various Fortune 100 companies. Most recently, she held the title of Director, National Sales in Coca-Cola’s Venturing & Emerging Brands division. Denise holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and an MBA from Arizona State University. She lives in Jersey City, New Jersey with her husband, Jeremy, and their 5-year-old daughter, Vivienne.
To learn more about Partake Foods, please visit:
https://partakefoods.com/
Follow Denise on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/denisegwoodard/
