Brami’s Second Act: From Lupini Snacks to Protein Pasta, and the Strategy Behind Its Rise to Category Leadership
When a decade-old lupini snack brand decided to enter the crowded protein pasta category with a 5x growth target, the CEO knew the reality: his organization wasn't built for that kind of scale.
With 2,000+ new retail doors opening, a flat leadership structure, and limited bandwidth to manage both the legacy snack business and aggressive pasta expansion, the path forward felt overwhelming.
The Chicken or the Egg
Brami had built credibility over a decade in the lupini snack space. A delicious, BFY brand with strong retail retlationships. But winning in protein pasta—a category experiencing explosive growth but dominated by established players—required capabilities the company simply didn't have in-house...yet.This is a classic founder’s equation. But achieving growth requires exceptional people, and that is costly. This is where fractional help can be a game-changer.
Hiring an experienced team costs hundreds of thousands of dollars - money that most startups don’t have. But the thinking is “if we can just achieve certain KPIs, just overcome certain hurdles, we will unlock investment that can drive scale, and unlock those roles.” This is a common reason people call Dovetail.
With high stakes and one shot, Brami needed Dovetail to:
Deliver a hit-the-ground-running sales team that could find and execute on opportunities without oversight - earning the right for full time hires by winning accounts
Build and execute a retail media strategy that could truly move product off shelf at scale
Manage forecasting and deploy tight working capital with pinpoint accuracy, deftly navigating 2025 tariff uncertainty on this imported product
Build an enduring sales and retail marketing strategy to win in a 20ft pasta set
Help the CEO be a CEO - not the simultaneous head of sales, marketing, operations, and HR
“If we achieve x, we can raise y”
“Since we launched this latest iteration of our pasta, our experience getting—and staying—on shelf has been really positive. Pasta buyers know there’s a huge gap in the market.”
“Human talent is the #1 driver of venture outcomes. They are the force multipliers, and building tools to set your people up for success is at the core of Dovetail’s engagement philosophy”
From Moment to Momentum
We believe that every F&B brand needs a cohesive food philosophy - and Aaron wanted Americans to eat pasta like Italian’s do, which would lead to better health and social outcomes. A delicious mission that we could get behind.
The question was: how will we take a founder’s vision and translate into something that consumers actually see, feel and buy?
We allocated two team members, embedded in Brami's day-to-day, and started where all good strategy starts: with the consumer.
We scoured secondary market research as a foundation. Then worked closely with a research agency to better understand our consumers points of friction, engagement, and needs. Finally, we layered in-store shopper marketing using mobile eye-tracking studies.
What were they searching for online? What language did they use? What mattered on shelf versus on screen? The data revealed a opportunities between how Brami positioned itself and how consumers were actually looking for better-for-you pasta alternatives.
Working with an external creative agency, we worked collaboratively to help develop new brand positioning that aligned Aaron's food philosophy with consumer intent. Packaging updates that performed in both the 20-foot pasta set at Target and the thumbnail view on Instacart. Category captain decks that told a coherent story about a movement, not just a sale.
For BFY brands in 2025: discovery happens online, even when purchase happens in store.
So we built it to work everywhere. Amazon PDPs that converted with the right search strategy. Instacart strategies that matched what shoppers looked for at Whole Foods. Retail media campaigns on Target.com that drove both online cart adds and in-store pick. Every touchpoint reinforced the same positioning, the same promise, the same food philosophy Aaron started with, a portal to Italy.
From there, execution moved to the shelf: Seven months of high-stakes presentations to Walmart, Target, Publix, and Meijer—finding and managing brokers, keeping to the strategy (even when it was easier to bend the rules), and meeting with buyers.
A can't-miss Costco opportunity emerged. Our scope expanded to project-managing a complex five-region Costco innovation launch from concept to shelf, aligning with plant, logistics, brokers, buyers, and design agencies. We led a tight timeline and seamless execution for Brami's first ever Club offering.
By mid-year, Brami was on track to double sales, which meant the company could finally execute the key hires they'd been planning.
We collaborated with the CEO and external recruiters to identify, interview, hire, and onboard permanent heads of Marketing, Operations, and Sales—ensuring smooth transitions and knowledge transfer.
Brami was able to build the foundation for a fraction of the price and a sliver of the risk of hiring a team too early.
This was strategy by design, and it allowed Brami to eventually hire one of the best leadership teams we have seen in CPG without overly diluting shareholders.
Today, Brami is recognized as one of the top protein pasta contenders nationally. The permanent leadership team is in place and scaling the business.
What are are most proud of: Dovetail continues as a strategic advisor to the CEO, helping navigate the next phase of expansion.
Are you a brand that needs help unlocking the next phase of growth?
Contact us today.