About
Built to answer why people buy
We started Schaefer to help food and beverage brands fix the strategy, research, and insight gaps that hold marketing back.
Why we exist
Built to fix what's always missing
We didn’t start Schaefer to be an agency—we started it because we were tired of watching good brands struggle with the most important part of marketing: knowing what really works.
That's why we built the only buyer psychology consultancy in food & beverage.
What we solve
Brands are asked to grow without a plan
We see the same problem: brands expected to grow without the research or strategy to back it up. We started Schaefer to fix that, focusing on the parts of marketing that matter most: deep research, clear strategy, and buyer psychology. There is no fluff. Just honest answers and a plan that works.
Why Food
We work in the industry we love
Everyone has a connection to food. It’s personal—flavor, nostalgia, relationships, even identity. We chose food and beverage because they are sensory, emotional, and human. As food lovers, we wanted to work in a category we care deeply about and where our work connects with people’s everyday lives.
What we believe
Better research. Clearer Strategy
We believe great strategy starts with great research. That buyer psychology isn’t optional. And that strategy should be simple enough to use and strong enough to scale. Truth over trends. And real results—not just a pretty deck.
Our Values
We believe clear thinking beats clever packaging. Always. Great work starts with asking the right questions, making smart decisions, and building strategy that’s easy to understand—and even easier to act on.
We chase what’s real—what customers actually think, feel, and do. Our job is to uncover what’s working, what’s not, and why it matters.
We work with you, not above you. No ego. No hand-offs. Just real collaboration from senior people who’ve been in your shoes and will be there for through the entire process. Whatever comes.
Our Awards
Why Work with Schaefer?
Schaefer maintains a 98% client retention rate and has been named as a Top U.S. Market Research Company (2025) and a Top Marketing Strategy company (2025) by Clutch.
Trust us, we're specialists.
We know how to grow food brands
We have decades of proven experience founding, growing, and exiting companies of all types. We’ve also led 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 Food & Beverage
We specialize in research and marketing for food and beverage brands — that's it. We read about, think about, and talk about growth in the 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
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.
Schaefer Team
Consultancy
We're boutique on purpose.
Intentional, flexible, and specialized are important traits. You get them all.
We've worked together for 10+ years. We're a small, tight-knit team.
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.
She's based in Las Vegas, loves playing hockey, fishing, and spending time with her five fur-babies. Her favorite food brand is 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 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. His favorite food brand is Carnivore Snax, "Fantastic brand, tasty, simple product ingredients with high-quality messaging. It's a melt-in-your-mouth meat snack."
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. His favorite food brand is LMNT because "Simple, clean ingredients with a clear, no-frills marketing strategy to match. I can’t live without it."
Industry Expertise
