SKUFood Recipes for Success
The food and beverage industry impacts everyone. There is always something happening that impacts producers, processors, distributors, retailers and consumers. SKUFood Recipes for Success podcast tells the story of what is happening and why.
Our guests will be people from one end of the value chain to the other. We will discuss what they are working on and how it impacts the store shelf and what goes into the shopping cart. People want to know more about the food and beverage products they take home to share with family and friends.
Host Peter Chapman has worked in this industry for his entire career. A high school job in retail evolved into 20 years with Canada’s largest food retailer where Peter worked in marketing and advertising and merchandising. After leaving Loblaw, Peter has worked with producers and processors from coast to coast to get their products on the shelf and into the shopping cart.
SKUFood Recipes for Success
S01 E31: Disrupting Snacking: How Mid-Day Squares Created a Community
In this episode of SKUFood Recipes for Success, we sit down with Jake Karls, the unapologetically authentic and refreshingly relatable Co-founder & Chief Rainmaker of Mid-Day Squares, the good-for-you chocolate brand that went from a Montreal condo kitchen to tens of millions of bars sold across thousands of retail stores.
Jake brings a no-BS approach to brand building. For him, the real differentiator isn’t just product innovation—it’s human connection, consistent storytelling, and having the courage to be fully yourself in a crowded category. As Mid-Day Squares scaled from idea to retail reality, Jake played a pivotal role in building community first, leveraging radical transparency, and turning everyday snackers into loyal superfans.
Widely recognized as a rising star in business, Jake has been a finalist for EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year, landed on Forbes 30 Under 30 (Food & Beverage, 2023), and has become a familiar voice in media across North America.
In our conversation, Jake takes us through the creative and chaotic early days of the brand, how daily content evolved into a trust-building machine, and why vulnerability became their most powerful marketing strategy. We explore how the founders navigated rapid growth without compromising authenticity, how they intentionally built a movement rooted in empowerment and inclusivity, and what their journey reveals about the future of food brands that resonate on a human level.
This episode offers an inside look at how Mid-Day Squares disrupted an entire category simply by showing up as themselves.
Website: https://www.middaysquares.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/middaysquares/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MidDaySquares/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-karls-653106ba/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mid-day-squares/
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If you would like to be on the show, send us an email :
peter@skufood.com or susan@skufood.com
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Thanks for listening!