The Good Food CFO podcast · The Good Food CFO

BABOYOT with Alyssa Fernandez of Ollin: Her Strategy for Being Mission-Driven but Market-Smart

·59 min·4 clips

Alyssa says only 1% of people have celiac disease, but 99% of gluten-free shoppers may still want premium cake mix.

1. The Good Food CFO Podcast episode centers on Sarah Delavan’s conversation with Alyssa Fernandez and her cake mix brand All In. 2. Alyssa Fernandez is the founder of All In, and Sarah Delavan hosts the show while Chelsea Steer produces it. 3. The episode asks how a new CPG founder can stay mission-driven while still being market-smart. 4. Alyssa says All In is an Aztec word meaning “movement” or “to come back full circle,” and she ties that idea to her own life story. 5. She describes the mission as “to take the baggage out of gluten,” because she sees a gap in specialty grains and heritage flours. 6. Sarah brings up her own baking-school background and recalls Clemence teaching her how the same cookie changes across different flours. 7. Alyssa says she chose cake mix because she thinks cake is the next category after the current cookie wave. 8. She says heritage grains like spelt and einkorn need more than a simple one-for-one swap or the result can become a “mushy brick.” 9. Alyssa says All In sources flour from Barton Springs Mill in Dripping Springs, Texas, and she calls them “the kings of milling.” 10. She names two initial SKUs: Golden Hour yellow cake mix and Any Day chocolate cake mix. 11. Golden Hour uses TAM 105 as the base flour, which the packaging calls “sheriff TAM 105,” with spelt as the “deputy.” 12. Any Day chocolate uses rye, and Alyssa says it is the kind of chocolate cake that people who do not like chocolate would still enjoy. 13. Alyssa says she is a “pastry school dropout,” but she has spent five or six years cooking and taking baking seriously. 14. She says she built a grain flavor wheel, held grain tastings, and talked with professors, including one in the U.K., before launching. 15. She says she wanted to know enough about growing patterns and flavors to speak accurately about a misunderstood ingredient. 16. Alyssa says she deliberately leads with gluten as the “elephant in the room” rather than making health claims the main message. 17. She says launch planning was harder than expected because she had to think about co-packer research, boxes, cases, shipping, and the buyer pitch process. 18. She says data journalism and two years on Google’s trends team trained her to expect fast answers, which clashes with how slowly brand-building and sales actually move. 19. The episode feels like a practical founder interview with detailed product talk, self-critique, and examples from Sarah’s own food-industry background. 20. People building early-stage food brands or exploring premium baking products will get the most from this conversation. 21. People looking for a lightweight brand story without ops and sales detail may skip it.

As heard by us

A sharp look at how premium baking positioning depends on clear messaging, indulgence, and regional proof first.

Alyssa Fernandez's conversation centers on her cake mix company, All In, and on taking the baggage out of gluten without losing the pull of indulgence.

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Why you'd press play

You want a smarter way to position a premium cake mix without leaning on health-claim noise.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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