Rebranding a company is never easy.

But the task is made that much more difficult when the company's founder is no longer around to aid in the vision.

Michelle Kopman started RawFoodz in her home kitchen in 2011, when she saw an opportunity to make dressings and dips that were healthier and a whole lot tastier than what was available in stores, according to the company's website.

She was motivated by the very simple question, “Why can’t salad dressing be as healthy as your salad?”

Kopman was actively involved with the marketing and evolution of the brand up until her premature passing in 2018.

Since then, RawFoodz was rebranded to Mother Raw, an initiative led by CEO Kristi Knowles.

Knowles spoke to the DTC Growth Show team about how her 25-plus years in food/CPG led to spearheading a successful rebrand and expansion of Kopman’s beloved RawFoodz.

Taking the genesis of Kopman’s mission, Knowles strategically evolved RawFoodz to Mother Raw, resulting in a rebrand that resonated with a wider range of consumers and opened up a wealth of expansion opportunities in their category.

On the rebranding, Knowles says, "as opposed to saying, we are a vegan brand only for vegans, or, you know, we're an allergen friendly brand, only for allergen friendly people. We said, we're not going to put ourselves in a box or, more importantly, our consumers in a box, and tell them what they should do. We're going to say, hey, we're going to keep it real, we're plant based, we're organic, we're all these good things."

Listen to the full interview with Knowles above.