Morgan Zanotti: Co-Founder and President of Primal Kitchen
In 2015, Morgan Zanotti and her Primal Kitchen Co-Founder Mark Sissan set out to do something unheard of: replace the unhealthy condiments, sauces, and dressings that had come to dominate American grocery stores with equally delicious “cleaned up classics.” Built on a foundation of high-quality ingredients, the brand launched with an avocado oil mayonnaise and has since grown to over 70 products that can be found at over 16,000 retail locations. But before Zanotti was building one of the fastest-growing natural product companies and leading it through the acquisition of Kraft Heinz for $200 million, she was living a different life: She worked as an accountant, waited tables at a resort in Wisconsin, and surfed throughout South America. After returning to the United States, she was still unsure what a corporate career would look like for her, but as she says in this episode, sometimes it’s best to “just try something… without the pressure of this being the end-all-be-all.” With this mentality, she took a job at a branding and design agency and quickly learned she had a knack for marketing. Zanotti went on to become the Marketing Director at beverage company KeVita. It was there that she met Mark, whom she chatted with about building a company together. Soon after that, Primal Kitchen was born.