Taste Radio

Jon Sebastiani, the founder of Krave Jerky and Sonoma Brands, might want to invest in your company. Just make sure that you’re not chasing the latest hot trend. He’s really not into that. Sebastiani founded Sonoma Brands, a unique consumer product incubator and private equity firm, in 2015 following the sale of Krave Jerky to The Hershey Co. for $240 million. Earlier this year, Sonoma Brands launched a new $60 million fund and has in recent months deployed the capital to expand its holdings. The portfolio includes a mix of internally developed concepts, such as Smashmallow, Zupa Noma and Peckish, along with investments in high-growth brands like Guayaki, Dang Foods and, most recently, Vintage Wine Estates. In a conversation included in this episode, Sebastiani explained how Sonoma Brands eschews bleeding-edge concepts and trends in favor of opportunities to disrupt established categories through innovation and investment. “When you look at the line of products that we’ve created, including Krave, most of them