Featured Founder: Arianna Beetz of Nourish Foods

Welcome to our Featured Founder series, where you’ll meet startup founders from Tampa-St. Petersburg who are building and scaling their ventures to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. We interviewed Arianna Beetz of Nourish Foods, a high-protein functional foods company making healthy convenience effortless with its flagship product being instant, protein-packed puddings designed to support gut health, metabolic health, and blood sugar balance—while nourishing both you and the planet.

What were you doing previously and what inspired you to launch your company?

Prior to launching Nourish, I was a visiting scholar at Wharton and a consultant at McKinsey. I grew frustrated seeing so many people around me struggling with preventable health issues—sometimes it was due to a lack of financial resources, but often it was because they didn’t have the time to eat well. That’s why I founded Nourish: to make healthy eating effortless, ensuring that convenience and nutrition go hand in hand for both people and the planet.

What pain point is your company solving? What gets you excited to go to work every day?

Nourish makes hitting your protein goals effortless—anytime, anywhere, in under a minute—without compromising on clean ingredients.

What excites me every day is feedback—on the product, the mission, or the company. Whether positive or critical, the opportunity to continuously improve and maximize our impact keeps me motivated!

Name the biggest challenge you faced in the process of launching the company. How did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge was navigating the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry—from sourcing ingredients and finding manufacturers to understanding FDA regulations, marketing, and branding. Coming from a research background in wellness and nutrition, with some supply chain experience at McKinsey, much of the CPG process was completely new to me. I overcame it by seeking advice from industry veterans, devouring books and podcasts, and, most importantly, learning through trial and error.

Where do you see your company headed next?

We want to make eating for longevity and healthspan accessible, healthy, easy, and fun. As we expand our DTC presence, we aim to be the brand that makes optimizing your healthspan effortless and enjoyable. We’re exploring new functional flavors designed to support glycemic health and longevity, along with innovative product formats to fit every lifestyle.

Give us a tactical piece of advice that you’d share with another founder just starting out.

Never make important decisions in a silo. While too much input can be overwhelming, always cross-check key decisions with trusted advisors and industry experts. Learning from those with more experience can save you from costly mistakes and accelerate your growth.

Why Tampa Bay?

I was born in Peru but moved to Tampa at age 7. After leaving for my undergrad and PhD, I returned to be close to my mom—and my husband found an incredible job opportunity here. While I initially lacked a strong entrepreneurial community,  I’m grateful to have now found that with Embarc!