Jul 25, 2016 · 31m · top-founders
EP 366: Her Cheese Shop Does $1m+ Annually, EBITDA Low, Why?
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
Kendall Antonelli, co-founder of Antonelli's Cheese Shop, joins host Nathan Latka to discuss how she and her husband scaled an artisanal specialty food business past $1.9 million in revenue through open-book management, multi-channel distribution, and authentic community storytelling.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 40.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Nathan as informed peer 3.4 Guest teaching 2.6 Guest disagreement 1.9 Nathan pushing back 2.7
speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 8:21 Kendall calls out host interruption
Kendall directly stops Latka to point out that he interrupted her train of thought before she could finish explaining their financial breakdown.
Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 22:07 Latka presses guest on maternal work cultureLatka interrupts Kendall to challenge why she feels pride in not missing a marketing newsletter while giving birth in the hospital.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 10:07 Kendall corrects Latka on cheese terminologyKendall corrects Latka's naive terminology when he asks about buying a 'cheddar ball,' explaining that cheese is sold in wheels.
Nathan holds their own ▶ 20:53 Latka challenges business valuation and equity structureLatka aggressively tests Kendall's commercial acumen by throwing out a structured investment valuation term sheet ($1M for 45%) to see if she understands equity dilution.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Nathan as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Nathan pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honeymoon Epiphany and the Origin of Antonelli's Cheese Shop | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Kendall shares the founding story of Antonelli's Cheese Shop, starting from their honeymoon in Grenada in 2007. The tone is collaborative and playful, with Latka asking straightforward origin questions. | |
| Launching During a Recession and Commercial Lease Economics | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | Latka drills into lease rates and the definition of a triple-net lease, but gets slightly confused about the shop's square footage until Kendall clarifies it is 700 square feet. Kendall playfully calls out Latka for interrupting her earlier train of thought. | |
| The Economics of Cheese, Milk Varieties, and Sourcing Strategy | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | Kendall schools Latka on cheese terminology when he asks for a cheddar ball, correcting him that it is called a wheel of cheddar. She also details the economics of milk varieties, explaining why sheep's milk is the most expensive due to low yield. | |
| Retail Experience, SKU Optimization, and Revenue Stream Breakdown | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | Latka pushes Kendall to move past generic answers and disclose exact revenue breakdowns across her retail, catering, and wholesale business lines. Kendall provides specific figures for retail ($645k), catering ($152k), and events ($200k). | |
| Wholesale Margins, Inventory Perishability, and Reinvestment Decisions | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 | Latka challenges Kendall on the economics of zero net profit on $1.9 million in revenue and probes her on hypothetical investment terms and valuation. Kendall explains the strategic necessity of inventory management and affinage for perishable goods. | |
| Weekly Newsletter Strategy, Personal Transparency, and Brand Identity | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Latka challenges Kendall on why she feels compelled to mention sending out newsletters right after childbirth. Kendall defends her authentic brand philosophy of blending personal and professional lives into a cohesive lifestyle business. | |
| HostGator and FreshBooks Mid-Roll Sponsorship Segment | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | The segment includes mid-roll sponsor reads, the Famous Five rapid-fire questions, and episode wrap-up. The exchange remains friendly, with mutual appreciation for business growth books like Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and The Miracle Morning. |
Statements from this episode (14)
Antonelli: Only one grilled cheese restaurant existed in the US around 2008
“And along those lines, we ran a grilled cheese club out of our house cause this is before, there was only one other grilled cheese restaurant in the nation.”
Antonelli's Cheese Shop Pays $12 Per Square Foot Triple Net
“Well, now we pay 12 dollars a square foot triple net, and so it's going up, but it wasn't originally triple net or anything like that.”
Antonelli's Cheese Shop Spans 700 Sq Ft Retail and 1,200 Sq Ft Total
“It's 700 square feet. 700 square feet retail in the back of the house, which is actually a teeny shop it's about 1200 square feet total for the shop.”
Antonelli: Antonelli's Cheese Shop is fully self-funded with no outside investors
“We don't have any investors, we're ourselves right now, we're fully funded ourselves which we like so far, because we like being my own boss, not being accountable to anybody.”
Antonelli: Antonelli's Cheese Shop averages 50% COGS and 50% gross margin
“Our cogs and our profit margin is split basically fifty-fifty percent on average.”
Antonelli's Cheese Shop supplies around 200 Central Texas restaurants and chefs
“Wholesale, so we sell to around 200 restaurants and chefs in Central Texas.”
Wholesale accounted for nearly half of Antonelli's $1.9M 2015 revenue
“Wholesale was almost half of that.”
Antonelli's generated $200,000 from cheese tastings and corporate events in 2015
“And then events, we do, we teach cheese tasting classes, we do wine and cheese appreciation, so we team up with businesses and offer team building events, leadership events client appreciations and then all sorts of other bachelorette parties and this and that…”
Antonelli's Cheese Shop made zero profit on $1.9M revenue in 2015
“On the 1.9 million, how much do you make on that? How much did you make in 2015? Do you know? Zero.”
Antonelli's projects $80,000 profit on $2.2 million in 2016 revenue
“We think if we hit our numbers, we'll be profitable this year. If we hit 2.2 million, we'll profit about 80,000.”
Antonelli's founders halted their own salaries to fund new talent hires
“This last year chose to cut it off because we're really looking to hire talented people”
Kendall Antonelli Has Never Missed a Weekly Newsletter Since Launching
“I send a weekly email newsletter and I've written it, I didn't even miss the weeks that we were in the hospital giving birth to our kids and we started it three months before, Before we ever open, and we send one out every week”