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Lindsey Fredrick
I think a really big trend is people wanting to know exactly what's in what they're eating. And there's a lot of new products coming out that don't have the transparency that everyone's wanting. And I think that will make or break a business. We're super transparent in exactly the minerals. We add exactly what we're using in our beverage, and there's nothing we're leaving out. And I think that has set us apart and will continue to as we grow.
00:39
Caitlin Bricker
Hey, everybody, this is Caitlin Bricker, Managing Editor at Startup CPG. We are back with another founder feature. Today I'm sitting down with Lindsey Frederick, founder of Tarte, a healthy lifestyle beverage focused on tart cherry and mineral water with just five organic ingredients and zero natural flavors or added sugar. Lindsey has a marketing degree from Michigan State with a minor in entrepreneurship, and her CPG journey started in her college kitchen where she was dealing with 35 allergies and trying to figure out how to eat nutritious foods. She launched on January 1st of this year. Within two weeks, she was at Winter Fancy Fair in the Startup CGP section, creating a lot of buzz. And Tarte cherry is now the trending flavor of 2026. Coincidence?
01:22
Caitlin Bricker
I think Nuffs we're diving into why she makes her own mineral water in house, how the organic certification became her unexpected competitive advantage in retail, her strategy of minimal booth setup that lets the product speak for itself, why transparency and fewer ingredients is the next phase of functional beverages, and what it feels like to be a solo founder, activating at fitness studios, beaches and all across the country while simultaneously preparing for a launch in California and Texas. This this year, we hear from founders on this podcast every week. If you're a brand and want to get new opportunities right in your inbox, text CGP to 833-605-7002. That's 833-605-7002 and we'll get you hooked up. As always, enjoy. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Startup CGP podcast. This is Kaitlyn and today I'm here with Lindsey Frederick, founder of Tarte. Lindsey, welcome to the show.
02:25
Lindsey Fredrick
Thank you for having me.
02:27
Caitlin Bricker
It is great to have you here. I must say, the first time I saw Tart in writing was when were recruiting brands for our Winter Fancy Fair section. And you got me. I didn't even see the ingredients yet, but I read the description. I said, I need to know more. I don't know if you remember this, but I reached out and I said, do you mind Sharing the ingredient deck with me. And I think you were probably like, who the hell is this and why? Why are you asking me this question? I was delighted with the ingredient deck. So before we go any further, can you tell us what tart is?
03:02
Lindsey Fredrick
Tart is a healthy lifestyle beverage focused around tart, cherry, and mineral water. So we're all organic, only five ingredients, make our own mineral water, and love to base everything around the superfood. Tarte cherry.
03:15
Caitlin Bricker
Beautiful. And I do have a can here with me right now.
03:19
Lindsey Fredrick
I want as well.
03:20
Caitlin Bricker
I'm gonna crack one. Here we go.
03:26
Lindsey Fredrick
Cheers.
03:27
Caitlin Bricker
Cheers. It's so good.
03:30
Lindsey Fredrick
Thank you.
03:31
Caitlin Bricker
It sounded great in writing. And then when you sent the ingredient deck, I was just like, this is as good as I thought it was going to be. And then I tasted it. It's one of my favorite beverages on the market right now.
03:42
Lindsey Fredrick
Thank you. Thank you.
03:43
Caitlin Bricker
Run us through the beverage. Run us through the ingredient deck. What can somebody experience when they taste tart?
03:50
Lindsey Fredrick
So I really loved all the benefits of tart cherry, but didn't like the taste. So that's where everything really stemmed from. I started making this in my college kitchen, and I'd mix it with mineral water and then add a couple extra things. So we make our own mineral water in house, and then we add tart cherry, cranberry, lemon, and lime, and that's it.
04:10
Caitlin Bricker
How does somebody go about making mineral water? Probably might be so obvious to some people, but to me it's not. So what's the deal? So.
04:20
Lindsey Fredrick
So I didn't know either. I was given the recommendation to make your own mineral water because it's cheaper to just buy minerals than to ship in, like hundreds of gallons of water. So we just take normal reverse osmosis water that's been filtered, and then we add three types of salt and then one other mineral. They're basic minerals that you'd find in, like, every San Pellegrino and all of those other spots. Sparkling mineral waters. Those the ones that I used in my college kitchen. So that's what we referenced when we started making our own.
04:51
Caitlin Bricker
And why would somebody want to drink tart or have tart cherry juice in their life?
04:56
Lindsey Fredrick
Tarte cherry is a superfood, so you can do ton of research on what are all the different benefits. My favorites to highlight are anti inflammation, muscle recovery. It's really good for sleep. If you remember the sleepy time mocktail that was trending a while ago. And it just has a lot of other benefits, like high in antioxidants, lots of vitamins. It's good for all ages. So I think there's, like, really no place to go wrong.
05:22
Caitlin Bricker
And I think you are the only brand that comes to mind for me that's using tart cherry as a star ingredient. That's not a concentrated beverage. That's not just straight up tart cherry juice, which for me is really unique because when you introduce yourself, I started seeing tart cherry, what seemed like everywhere, in gummies, in powder form, in all different forms. But you still are holding strong in the RTD category. I just mentioned this with another brand. I feel like once you started talking about tart cherry, I started seeing it a lot. And it takes one person for those floodgates to just open. And I feel like you did that with tart cherry. It's really funny to watch.
06:05
Lindsey Fredrick
Thank you. Yeah. There was a report recently that someone sent to me that tart cherries like the trending flavor of 2026, which is so amazing because we launched on January 1st. So I think it really is, like, all encapsulating, which is amazing.
06:19
Caitlin Bricker
That is so funny. I think my introduction to tart cherry or seeing it in a CGP product, aside from just the juices on the shelf, is this brand called Vital Fit Nutrition. Have you ever heard of them? This was about a decade ago. They launched just a tart cherry powder in capsule form, and they ended up selling to Tom Brady's TV 12 company. And then I feel like I did not hear about tart cherry again until TikTok and the Sleepy Time mocktails and now the RTD. I mean, this is just so convenient, so delicious. And it looks really good too.
06:57
Lindsey Fredrick
Thank you.
06:57
Caitlin Bricker
Red is a color I feel like we don't see.
07:01
Lindsey Fredrick
I have my new packaging here too. So we just had production again. We have new packaging with, like, a couple added things.
07:09
Caitlin Bricker
Looks nice.
07:10
Lindsey Fredrick
So we'll have to get you some.
07:11
Caitlin Bricker
Yeah. Red is a color that I feel like I don't see much on the shelves for cpg. I wonder if there's a reason for that. I mean, it's clear why a tart cherry brand would choose red as their color, but I think that's just something. I'm just admiring the can, but I think that is something that helps you stand out even more. Do you ever look at the beverage sets and see yourself just pop out?
07:35
Lindsey Fredrick
Yeah, I think one of the big things I was concerned about when figuring out the packaging, and I asked a lot of people's advice when were going through different ideas. I originally wanted the can to be Burgundy or ivory. I was really against the red because I thought we would look like Coca Cola. And we kept getting all these renditions from my designer, and I got a gut feeling that it wasn't as good as it could be. So we hopped on the phone, and I was like, I'm sorry. You've done, like, five iterations. Do you have anything else in your packet? And she's like, well, these are all the ones that I didn't show you because I thought you wouldn't like them. So I'm like, send them to me.
08:10
Lindsey Fredrick
I printed them out, like, the same sizes with the camera be, and I put them in my fridge, and I took photos of them in the fridge, photos of them on the counter, and, like, everywhere in my house to see what they would look like. And then we all came to the conclusion that the red was the best.
08:23
Caitlin Bricker
Wow. So you basically did a lifestyle photo shoot to see what it would look like in the wild. That is so smart. I honestly have not talked to a brand who's done that before, or at least a brand who shared that with me. That's a pretty cool approach.
08:37
Lindsey Fredrick
Thank you. Yeah. I mean, I wanted it to be perfect, and even though we have been really bootstrapped, I wanted to have it not look that way to the consumer's eye at first impression.
08:47
Caitlin Bricker
Yes. Well, you nailed it. Looks really good. And I don't know if anybody can see this without me spilling it on my laptop, but the color, if anybody can see that on the rim, is just gorgeous. And it's perfectly matches the can too.
09:02
Lindsey Fredrick
Yes.
09:03
Caitlin Bricker
So you know you're getting those quality ingredients.
09:06
Lindsey Fredrick
Yes. Yes.
09:07
Caitlin Bricker
So you mentioned a January 1, 2026 launch. You were in our section at Winter Fancy Fair, and that was, what, like, two weeks after you launched.
09:18
Lindsey Fredrick
Yeah.
09:20
Caitlin Bricker
What compelled you to make that decision?
09:22
Lindsey Fredrick
So. So I think I didn't realize what I was applying for when I signed up for Winter Fancy Fair. I had been in this slack for startup CGP for a while, but I hadn't been utilizing it much because I hadn't launched. And, like, we didn't have production and everything going. So when I knew production was coming, I started going through the channel and saw all these opportunities. I'm like, well, I might as well just supply. Like, no, I probably won't get it because I'm such a young brand, but it's. It's worth it to go try. And then one night were eating dinner, and you messaged me about the ingredients, and I was like, oh, my gosh, does this mean I'm good. I did it. Like, she actually is looking at taking the time to do her due diligence.
10:06
Lindsey Fredrick
And so then, like, a couple days later, I think it was, I got the email that I was accepted, and I was like, okay, we don't have production yet. Like, I didn't have product when I got accepted, and there was potential that we would have to not produce until into January. So my manufacturer loved them. They're, like, so nice and helpful. They, like, pulled production forward for me so that we could launch on January 1st and be at Winter Fancy Fair with you guys. So I definitely went into the Expo with, like, no expectations. And I think that was honestly the best thing I could have done for myself, because I didn't have time to think of expectations, But I also didn't know what to expect. Cause I had never done anything like that, and I do not come from this industry.
10:49
Lindsey Fredrick
So it was definitely a big risk. But so happy I was able to make it work.
10:55
Caitlin Bricker
And how did the show go for you? What was the reception from retailers and consumers alike?
11:00
Lindsey Fredrick
It was incredible. I think we gave out, like, a thousand samples, which is insane. And I met buyers from every single place you can think of, even just, like, opening doors, which is really exciting. So the big guys and the smaller people, like, everyone was super receptive to it. And when I was at the show, I had never heard the word gout more in my life. I guess tart cherry is really popular if you have gout. And I learned that at the show because a lot of people kept coming back because it was helping them.
11:33
Caitlin Bricker
I guess nobody at the show will have gout now.
11:36
Lindsey Fredrick
Exactly.
11:37
Caitlin Bricker
Thanks to tariff. Were you going home like, okay, are there any, like, gout clinics near me that I can stock tarts?
11:46
Lindsey Fredrick
On the last day, this guy came back for, like, the fourth time. And I'm like, do you want a couple cans? Like, I don't want to ship these home with me. Let me just give you some cans then. He loved them. He came back before the end of the show and had already drank them both.
11:59
Caitlin Bricker
I hope he left you a review. Goat be gone.
12:02
Lindsey Fredrick
Yes.
12:02
Caitlin Bricker
Thanks to Tarte. That is so funny. I'm glad you had such a great experience. And I do like the approach of going in kind of blind. It kind of reminds me of, like, being in a boardroom and having to present and not practicing the presentation ahead of time because you just know your product, you know what you're talking about. So, like, why psych yourself out?
12:24
Lindsey Fredrick
Yeah. And I think even with Our booth setup. A lot of people like to put a ton of, like, thought into it in terms of all these different signage and extra things. I ordered everything from Amazon and shipped it to my hotel I was staying at in San Diego. So when I got there, I hadn't even seen anything I wanted to do for my setup. This is how last minute and, like, unprepared were. But I just had, like, two photo frames that I got stuff printed at the printer store nearby, and then I had a table runner, and then I let my product speak for itself. We stacked it up on the tables, and that's kind of like all we needed.
12:59
Lindsey Fredrick
And I think it's nice to have your product stand out and, like, the packaging really does matter because I know that I'm not going to be the one selling it to every single person who buys it at the store. So, again, like, why we wanted the branding to be so strong is that it needs to sell itself. And I think we did that.
13:15
Caitlin Bricker
I love that approach. I have this conversation with brands all the time, too, who are kind of psyching themselves out for this opportunity that's ahead of them. And I always say, nobody's taking the booth home with them. They want to take the product home. So you nailed it with your approach, even though you may not have realized that at the time, but you did a great job. And I know buyers were talking about it after the show, and obviously our team loved it too.
13:43
Lindsey Fredrick
Thank you.
13:44
Caitlin Bricker
And thanks for mentioning that were doing our due diligence for the application for Winter Fancy. We do get emails a lot asking for updates on applications for sections or shows or opportunities that we're running. We truly do go line by line for every brand that applies. We go to their website, we look at the images that are uploaded, we go to socials, we are looking at ingredient lists, we look at everything. There's not a single brand that applies for an opportunity that does not get eyes on them. So thank you. We are doing our due diligence and it does take time. It's a good problem to have to be overwhelmed with so many applications.
14:22
Lindsey Fredrick
Yes, that is great. And I think it's so cool. At the show, I was able to meet so many people who I'd been talking to online or had heard about their product or even if I hadn't, I made a lot of friends that now I'm going to the Summer fancy food with you guys. And I think half of the section is people that I'm friends with and the people next to me I like, talk to daily, so I'm really excited.
14:44
Caitlin Bricker
It always feels like a reunion, going to the trade shows. It's really cool.
14:48
Lindsey Fredrick
Yes. I'm so excited.
14:50
Caitlin Bricker
So I gotta ask, what is your background and why cpg? I know you were making this beverage in your dorm room and then you decided to turn it into a canned RTD drink. But why?
15:03
Lindsey Fredrick
I don't come from any type of CGP background. I have a degree in marketing from Michigan State, and I have a minor in entrepreneurship and innovation. So I always knew that I really wanted to do something that was like building or owning something that was my own, but I never really knew what it was. And growing up, I had a lot of gut health problems and allergies. At my peak, I had about 35 allergies, but they were all random things. It wasn't like dairy or gluten. It was like carrots and seafood and soy. So I grew up eating a lot of things that were from scratch. And we did focus on, like, organic foods and everything, but my diet was just super limited.
15:46
Lindsey Fredrick
And I was okay with that until I got to college and saw other people, like, learning to cook and eating all these, like, fun meals, and I would eat the most boring things. So I set out on a journey to figure out more nutritious, like, dense foods for myself that could bring strong nutritional benefits. For example, tart cherry is what I stumbled upon and loved all of the ideas of drinking it, but did not like the taste. So that's kind of where everything started. And I was making it for myself in my kitchen for about a year before the idea to, like, make it in a business ever really came about. My friends would ask for it. We mix it with tequila. We drink it the morning after.
16:26
Caitlin Bricker
Like, now the truth comes out.
16:28
Lindsey Fredrick
Yes. And it was great, right? Like, everyone liked it. And I had a couple friends in college who also were building businesses, and so they were like, just search and manufacture and things went from there.
16:42
Caitlin Bricker
Wow. I have talked to so many founders and still I have never put myself in your shoes to think, hey, what if I decided I wanted to make a CGP brand today? I know the startup CGP Slack would be a good place to go, but I have no idea what it's like to approach a manufacturer, to approach a coin, to approach a designer about a product. So props to you for putting this to life and making it happen.
17:08
Lindsey Fredrick
Thank you. Yeah, I talk to a lot of people every week. A lot of people want to hear, like, my experience and get advice on how to start their own Thing. And I think it is really hard to know what to do first. And I love being able to share that with people. I think that my path is a little bit unconventional because I already had a recipe that I really liked. And although I was eyeballing it, I at least had some type of measurement to go off of. And it's not like I was just telling some formulator that I wanted a drink that had tart cherry and day we're like, oh, off to the races. So I think that's a lot of times what people do, which is totally okay.
17:45
Lindsey Fredrick
But in the unconventional sense, I love that I was able to create it myself first.
17:49
Caitlin Bricker
And tell me why you opted to not use natural flavors, not use added sugar. Walk me through the thought process with that. And I'm especially curious if in any R and D and working with manufacturers, if they tried to stick steer you in a direction to go down that route instead of sticking to these ingredients.
18:12
Lindsey Fredrick
I have yet to meet anyone who tried to steer me in a different direction. So I think it's really cool that were able to create something that's so clean. I've always been someone who reads the ingredient list and I always look for things like natural flavors or additives and preservatives that I don't really want in my foods. So when I was trying to create the actual recipe that could be scalable and like put in a can with for more than a week, I was researching pasteurization and realized that is an easy way to have no additives and you don't need natural flavors if you're using like juices and things that are already strong in taste.
18:51
Lindsey Fredrick
So also if you use a natural flavor, you don't have the rich color and all the antioxidants that are coming from the actual product or the fruit that you're using. So I think it was kind of a no brainer. Like, I read the ingredient list and want it to be everything that's in my house already and I want it to be that way for everyone else as well.
19:09
Caitlin Bricker
You raise a really good point about the color because so often we get these flavor rich beverages that you would think would have a lot of color in them. And then you pour it out of the can and it's completely clear with this. It's not. It's very vibrant. It looks great in a glass, which I think is another really good selling point.
19:29
Lindsey Fredrick
Yes. Bright red for cherry.
19:32
Caitlin Bricker
So I'm curious. I am not somebody who would be picking up Tart for recovery necessarily. But I would pick up Tart because it tastes really good. What is your strategy for retail rollout or for getting to new Target customers? Where are you looking? Where are you headed?
19:51
Lindsey Fredrick
I jumped all around the country pretty quickly because we're unfair and air goods. So a lot of people did find us in social media and that was helpful to get new stores and things like that. But I think that the markets really lie in the places that love their health and wellness. California, Texas, Florida, places even like busy cities, places that people are out and about wanting to have something healthy. They're okay with paying for an $8 latte, so they're okay buying a $4 canned beverage. And I think that the retail role we have coming is so insane for 2026 already. We are launching in a couple of weeks in a place in California and then Texas in the coming months as well. So stay tuned.
20:36
Caitlin Bricker
Very exciting. What are you doing to prepare for these retail rollouts?
20:41
Lindsey Fredrick
I love to plan in person activations and tastings around the retailers that we're in. So even the small retailers that were in a Michigan that's like a single mom and pop shop, I try and do retail activations like everywhere that I can to really drive sales. And maybe that's not a demo in the store, but it's a fitness studio down the street that I pop up after their classes and they get to try it and taste it and buy it and then if they want more they can go to the store down the street. And same thing with California, like heading to the beaches, handing them out, just getting the word of mouth and brand awareness in the areas that I can't be in all the time. And also social media is like the best tool ever.
21:24
Lindsey Fredrick
Free marketing or even if you do paid ads. I think it's just so helpful to get the word out to everyone that why? Who?
21:30
Caitlin Bricker
I see you on my social feed all the time and it really does seem like you are everywhere for such a small brand starting out. Like it seems like you are all over the country right now. Is it just you on your team or do you have other people too?
21:43
Lindsey Fredrick
It's just me. I do have people that help me in certain areas. We have a fulfillment team and I have a consultant and things like that. But everything day to day is just myself and it's been insane but really exciting. I love all the travel that's it's bringing me and things like that.
22:00
Caitlin Bricker
What's the reception been like from these retailers that are going to onboard you?
22:04
Lindsey Fredrick
We've had a lot of stores come to us because they know the tart cherry is trending, and they see a lot of tart cherry products in their store selling really well. And I think that a huge thing that helped pull us into a lot of places also is our organic certification. And people really value that we are certified organic. And that's a huge thing that people care about right now. And when you're buying a product at the store. And that's helped pull us past a lot of our other competitors or people in the industry that don't have that.
22:33
Caitlin Bricker
What did getting the certification look like on the outside? Looking in somebody who's never been through this process, it seems like it would be very rigorous. Is it?
22:42
Lindsey Fredrick
It's a lot of paperwork and due diligence, and it's pretty much like an audit that you have to check all of your ingredients based back to where they're made from and how they're sourced. So I find my suppliers have to go and get paperwork that way, making sure that the minerals are not made in a lab and things like that, and they're actually dug up from the ground. But then it's like yearly audits, and it does take some time. So that's why we had a delay. We delayed our production I think four times in 2025. So that was like one of the big delays that we had. But I think it was so worth it going into our launch with being certified organic already. And it's something that I value in, like, all the food that I buy.
23:23
Lindsey Fredrick
And I know that other people do too.
23:25
Caitlin Bricker
You have mentioned this to me before, and I'm really curious to know more about how you think consumers are de influencing themselves. How does that feel as a beverage founder, and what do you think you're seeing right now in the market?
23:38
Lindsey Fredrick
I think a really big trend is people wanting to know exactly what's in what they're eating. And there's a lot of new products coming out that don't have the transparent transparency that everyone's wanting. And I think that will make or break a business. We're super transparent in exactly the minerals. We add exactly what we're using in our beverage, and there's nothing we're leaving out. And I think that has set us apart and will continue to as we. As we grow.
24:07
Caitlin Bricker
I think you're absolutely right. I have to say it again, because when I saw that ingredient list from you, it was hitting on everything that seems to be trending right now. The no added sugars, which is huge for people or sweetening with honey, maple syrup or dates. And the no natural flavors. The no natural flavors I think is going to be continuing to be a very large conversation. And we even see retailers like Sprouts who are hitting on it and hinting at wanting that more transparency from brands that they're onboarding. So you really have set yourself up for success in the future, and I think it's starting to show too, with these retail rollouts that you have coming.
24:47
Caitlin Bricker
If you were to go and tell yourself some advice, if you could go back in the past, I know it hasn't been a year since you've launched, but if you could go back a year and give yourself some advice from your position now, what would you tell yourself?
25:01
Lindsey Fredrick
I would say to always go with my gut and know that even if there's a bump in the road, there's more good than bad coming.
25:10
Caitlin Bricker
I need that reminder myself. I think we all do.
25:13
Lindsey Fredrick
And this is another thing. I read this recently and I think about it all the time. But nothing changes if nothing changes.
25:22
Caitlin Bricker
Damn straight. Yes, that's absolutely right.
25:25
Lindsey Fredrick
If you want something to change, you have to make the change.
25:27
Caitlin Bricker
Yes. Yes. All right, we need more people on the Tart train. So can you tell us your website, your socials? Where can we find you?
25:36
Lindsey Fredrick
Yes, we're on all social platforms at Drink Tart, T A R T and then you can find our website, drinktart.com and yeah, head over. We have a store locator. We add new stores pretty much daily. So go see where you can find us. And then you can order us straight to your doorstep as well.
25:55
Caitlin Bricker
You can find Lindsey there. And you can also find me chilling and sipping on some tart this summer. Yes, cheers to you. Thank you for joining me today and I'm so excited to see what the next year holds for you.
26:06
Lindsey Fredrick
Thank you so much for having me. And I'll see you in a couple weeks in New York.
26:10
Caitlin Bricker
Yes, you will. You know where to find me. I'll see you soon. Thanks, Lindsey.
26:15
Lindsey Fredrick
Bye bye.
26:17
Caitlin Bricker
CGP BFF. We've now arrived together at the end of another episode of the Startup CGP Podcast. As you may know, we're not just the top globally ranked CGP podcast. We're a community of tens of thousands of CGP founders and experts. Experts. And you should join us if you haven't already. Head to startupcpg.com to sign up. You'll get an invite to our Slack community, hear about events near you, and get access to opportunities that connect you with buyers, investors and other brands. It's free. So what are you waiting for? I'll see you in slack and in real life. Thanks for listening.