In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Caitlin Bricker sits down with Melissa Bermudez, founder of Unrefined Foods — frozen muffins made with 100% stone-milled whole grains and real fruits and vegetables. Melissa's path to founder started far from the kitchen: investment banking at JP Morgan, a hedge fund, business school, and stints at Walden Local Meat and a Big Ag financing firm, before landing at her kitchen counter with three kids under three (including twins) and a KitchenAid full of shredded zucchini.
What began as batch-freezing muffins to survive school lunch mornings turned into a mission-driven brand tackling one of the most overlooked corners of the food system: wheat. While gluten-free has dominated the conversation for years, Melissa is betting on fresh-milled, stone-ground wheat — and the direct farmer relationships needed to source organic and regenerative grain in a market where only 2% of U.S. wheat production is certified organic.
Caitlin and Melissa dig into why fresh-milled flour tastes nothing like store-bought whole wheat, the operational tradeoffs of a two-day shelf life muffin, why the freezer aisle might be the real frontier for changing how families eat, and the viral added-sugar demo that turned heads (and briefly a customer's stomach).
Listen in as they discuss:
Why fresh-milled wheat flour is a completely different product from anything on grocery shelves — and the coffee bean analogy that explains why
Melissa's path from Big Ag financing to founder, and what working directly with farmers taught her about the realities of the commodity system
Why only 2% of U.S. wheat is organic, and how Unrefined Foods is building direct farmer relationships to change that
The chaotic kitchen-counter origin story: three kids under three, an overflow of neighbor zucchini, and a muffin recipe that became a business
Why Unrefined Foods chose frozen over fresh — and how a 2-day shelf life shaped the entire product format
The case for the freezer aisle as an underrated tool for delivering high-quality, less-processed food to time-strapped parents
How Unrefined Foods is using bakery-adjacent placement (like near pie crusts and waffles) to become a "category expander" in the frozen section
The maple syrup demo video that showed shoppers exactly how much added sugar is hiding in a typical bakery muffin
Why Melissa deliberately keeps her muffins less sweet — and lets parents decide whether to doctor them up
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