Velocity Over Vanity: How to Really Evaluate Food Brands

Food is capital-intensive, margin-compressed, and brutally hard, so why do some investors still believe it’s one of the most underfunded opportunities in venture?Nate Cooper, founder of Barrel Ventures, joins In The Money to break down how he underwrites food and beverage businesses, from pre-revenue to Series A, and why velocity, habit, and lifetime value matter more than software-style margins.This episode is a clear-eyed look at food as a venture-backable asset class, what most founders misunderstand, and how to think about scale realistically in 2025–2026.We cover:Why food is one of the hardest, and most misunderstood, venture categoriesHabitual consumption and why LTV can outweigh lower marginsVelocity vs door count (and why door count is a vanity metric)What makes a food brand venture-scale vs just a “good business”How Barrel underwrites from pre-revenue through Series ACase studies:Ollipop and filling the soda → better-for-you gapNowadays and the decline of alcohol consumptionLoveCorn and loyal repeat purchase dynamicsTrends Nate is watching into 2026:Protein and functional ingredientsAlcohol alternatives and THC beveragesFuture-proofing ingredients (cocoa, fermentation, precision biology)This is not a hype conversation. It’s a grounded discussion about building real food businesses that survive, scale, and compound.