Winter Fancy Food Show 2019: MindFull Founder Talks Launching New Company

Matt Jimenez has experienced the food and beverage industry from the brand side, as a former sales manager at PROBAR and Hain Celestial Group, and from the retail side as a category manager at Whole Foods Market. Now, he’s taking on the role of entrepreneur at his new portfolio company MindFull Inc., which is launching this spring with new tea products from established tea maker Gaiam and a new brand, Vibe.

Speaking with BevNET at Winter Fancy Food Show 2018, where the company did not have a booth, Jimenez said MindFull is built on “category management principles” and utilizes data to target and develop functional food and beverage brands in categories with room for innovation.

“We decided to build MindFull to house a number of different brands so that way we could focus on different categories, capture new ideas, look at white space across multiple areas of the store, and build creative, exciting products that meet the market’s needs,” Jimenez said.

In this clip, Jimenez explains how his previous industry experience is informing the launch, why he chose to partner with Gaiam, and how MindFull will develop lifestyle brands around functional products.