Schaefer: About Us

ABOUT

We’re senior-level marketers with a passion for food, growth, and great strategy.

Too many specialty food brands struggle with consumer growth initiatives because of a lack of clear research and strategy. We help specialty food and beverage companies reach their growth goals by providing in-depth research, strategic planning, and detailed go-to-market playbooks.

WHAT IT TAKES TO SUCCEED

Brands consistently achieve 50-80% higher success rates when they get to the heart of what matters most, go-to-market strategy.

OUR perspective

We’ve spent years learning first-hand how, where, and why most specialty food and beverage companies fall short when expanding to new geographies, verticals, distribution channels, product lines, or even new customer segments.

80% of marketers operate only at the tactical level.

We live in a world where anyone can “do” marketing, but most marketers are expert tool users only — they fill editorial calendars, schedule meetings, and stay busy in the “what” zone.

Just 19% go deeper to structural planning.

A select few go deeper, adding the type of structure and process that outlines the “how,” creating a repeatable process for how their GTM strategy comes together.

Only the top 1% get to
the deepest level.

The top 1% of brands ask the right questions or push themselves hard enough strategically to get to the heart of what matters most — and “why.”

OUR TEAM

We’re a small, tight-knit team (on purpose).

Schaefer is a boutique research and marketing strategy firm.
Our team has worked together for the last 10+ years — we do what we do because we love the work, enjoy working together, and love specialty foods.

Sidnee Schaefer

Partner

Sidnee founded Schaefer in 2019,
after spending her 10+ year career in Marketing and Strategy leadership roles in agencies and in-house. She specializes in marketing, GTM strategy, and analytics.

Sidnee is based in Las Vegas, loves playing hockey, fishing, and spending time with her five fur-babies.

Sidnee founded Schaefer in 2019,
after spending her 10+ year career in Marketing and Strategy leadership roles in agencies and in-house. She specializes in marketing, GTM strategy, and analytics.

Sidnee is based in Las Vegas, loves playing hockey, fishing, and spending time with her five fur-babies.

Sidnee founded Schaefer in 2019,
after spending her 10+ year career in Marketing and Strategy leadership roles in agencies and in-house. She specializes in marketing, GTM strategy, and analytics.

Sidnee is based in Las Vegas, loves playing hockey, fishing, and spending time with her five fur-babies.

Favorite Specialty
Food Brand:
Happy Egg

Why Happy Egg:

" I love everything about them - from mission to packaging to taste. They do everything right. You’ll never buy another egg brand again.”

Why Happy Egg:

" I love everything about them - from mission to packaging to taste. They do everything right. You’ll never buy another egg brand again.”

Why Happy Egg:

" I love everything about them - from mission to packaging to taste. They do everything right. You’ll never buy another egg brand again.”

Seth Waite

Partner

Seth is a serial entrepreneur who has built, grown, and sold five different companies. He specializes in scaling growth via market research and strategy.

Seth is based in St. Louis, loves reading (all genres), playing basketball with his kids, managing his fish ponds, and spending time with his family.

Seth is a serial entrepreneur who has built, grown, and sold five different companies. He specializes in scaling growth via market research and strategy.

Seth is based in St. Louis, loves reading (all genres), playing basketball with his kids, managing his fish ponds, and spending time with his family.

Seth is a serial entrepreneur who has built, grown, and sold five different companies. He specializes in scaling growth via market research and strategy.

Seth is based in St. Louis, loves reading (all genres), playing basketball with his kids, managing his fish ponds, and spending time with his family.

Favorite Specialty
Food Brand:
Carnivore Snax

Why Carnivore Snax:

"Fantastic brand, tasty, simple product ingredients with high-quality messaging. It’s a melt-in-your-mouth meat snack."

Why Carnivore Snax:

"Fantastic brand, tasty, simple product ingredients with high-quality messaging. It’s a melt-in-your-mouth meat snack."

Why Carnivore Snax:

"Fantastic brand, tasty, simple product ingredients with high-quality messaging. It’s a melt-in-your-mouth meat snack."

John Schnettgoecke

Principal Consultant

John has spent his career helping build, grow, and scale a variety of businesses — from boutique consulting firms to Fortune 100 to early-stage tech startups. He specializes in project management, market research, and GTM strategy.

John is based in Hawai’i, enjoys surfing (not well), camping, and working in his yard. He plays baseball most Sundays, and works in a greenhouse that he converted into an outdoor home office.

Favorite Specialty
Food Brand:
LMNT

Why LMNT:

"Simple, clean ingredients with a clear, no-frills marketing strategy to match. I can’t live without it."

Why LMNT:

"Simple, clean ingredients with a clear, no-frills marketing strategy to match. I can’t live without it."

Why LMNT:

"Simple, clean ingredients with a clear, no-frills marketing strategy to match. I can’t live without it."

Our company

Why work with Schaefer?

Schaefer maintains a 98% client retention rate and has been named as a Top U.S. Market Research Company (2024), and a Top Marketing Strategy company (2024) by Clutch.

We know how to grow consumer brands.

We have decades of proven experience founding, growing, and exiting companies of all types. We’ve also led GTM growth initiatives on behalf of Fortune 500 organizations and have held growth roles at firms that have been named to the prestigious Inc. 5000 list on four separate occasions (Fastest Growing Private Companies in the U.S.).

We only work with Specialty Food brands.

We specialize in research and marketing for specialty food and beverage brands — that's it.
We read about, think about, and talk about growth in the specialty food space all day, every day. We also have access to data and insights you won't get from other firms.

We only hire senior-level talent (on purpose).

We've chosen to be a smaller, senior-level team because it allow us to better serve you in every way possible (we also enjoy the simplicity, if we're being honest). We bring in highly-experienced, senior-level contractors only when needed, but we don’t have any other employees on payroll, nor do we hand you off to junior teammates.

CONTACT

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