Grocery store aisles are inundated with claims, benefits and buzzwords. Amara has taken a different approach: start with whole-food ingredients, use proprietary food technology to make them snackable, and let consumer needs drive what comes next.
Launched in 2017, the organic kids’ food brand is best known for its superfood smoothie melts and also markets fruit bites, breakfast oat melts and baby food. The products are distributed across the U.S. at Target, Whole Foods, Walmart, Costco, Sam’s Club, Sprouts and Publix.
In this conversation, founder and CEO Jess Sturzenegger explains how Amara evolved from DTC into a national retail brand, why disciplined innovation matters more than launching a constant stream of new products, and how she’s used everything from one-on-one customer calls to formal consumer testing to shape the business.
She also gets candid about retail readiness, operational scaling, sourcing, fundraising, protecting founder control and adapting her own role as the company grows. Most importantly, Jess shares why listening to consumers—and then actually acting on what they tell you—has been central to Amara’s growth.
Show notes:
0:20: Jess Sturzenegger, Founder & CEO, Amara – Jess Sturzenegger discusses how her personal interest in food quality and preservation technology led her to launch a brand focused on making whole fruits and vegetables more accessible in convenient snack formats. She explains how Amara evolved from baby food into toddler and kids’ snacks, why educating parents about its products required translating nutritional benefits into practical everyday advantages, and how consumer feedback has guided its innovation strategy. Jess shares how the company leveraged D2C traction and customer reviews to secure its first natural and specialty retail placements before expanding into Target, Walmart and Costco. She also details the operational changes required to support that growth, the importance of building experienced teams, maintaining strict ingredient and quality standards, and developing close supplier relationships to manage costs. The conversation also explores what attracted investors to Amara, how fundraising priorities change as a company matures, protecting founder equity and control, and the importance of adapting as a CEO. Jess closes with a look at Amara’s focus on serving children ages zero to seven, developing products around specific eating occasions, and building a brand that reaches more households.
Brands in this episode: Amara
