How a Diabetic Built One of the Fastest-Growing Cereal Brands in America with Krishna Kaliannan

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Building a food brand through DTC sounds great.

Until you realize… it might not actually work.

In this episode, Mike sits down with Krishna Kalyan, Founder of Catalina Crunch, the high-protein, low-sugar cereal brand that went from a personal health experiment to a multi-million dollar business sold in major retailers.

Krishna shares how being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes forced him to rethink everything he ate, why he spent years eating eggs before creating his own cereal, and how a simple Venmo from a friend turned into the start of a company.

They break down the realities of building a food brand from scratch, why DTC doesn’t always work for low-price products, and how Catalina Crunch scaled through retail instead. The conversation also dives deep into product development, functional foods, category expansion, and the balance between taste and nutrition.

You’ll learn:

✅ Why DTC is hard for food brands (and when it works)✅ The real economics of shipping low-cost products✅ How Krishna validated demand before scaling✅ Why retail became the core growth channel✅ The importance of word-of-mouth in grocery✅ How to balance taste vs function in CPG✅ Why most “functional” products don’t actually deliver✅ How to think about trends vs fads (keto, protein, etc.)✅ The right way to expand SKUs and categories

👉 If you’re building a food or beverage brand, this episode is a real look at what actually works beyond the DTC hype.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro01:00 The problem with DTC food economics02:00 Krishna’s diabetes diagnosis05:00 Changing diet and lifestyle07:30 Getting tired of eating eggs08:00 Why cereal became the focus10:00 Experimenting with protein ingredients12:00 The first “aha” business moment14:00 Realizing the market opportunity17:00 Launching online from his kitchen19:30 Early demand and validation22:00 Scaling beyond a home kitchen24:00 Raising capital from angel investors27:00 The original DTC strategy29:00 Why DTC didn’t work long-term32:00 The shift to retail34:00 Getting into Whole Foods37:00 What actually drives shelf velocity40:00 Expanding into new categories43:00 Managing complexity in CPG46:00 The time he almost quit49:00 Building in-house manufacturing52:00 Taste vs function trade-offs56:00 The rise of functional foods59:00 Trends vs fads (keto, protein)01:03:00 Rebranding Catalina Crunch01:06:00 When to follow trends vs ignore them01:09:00 Book recommendations & final thoughts01:12:00 Outro

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