Kirsten Maitland, co-founder and "CheeseMaster" of the critically acclaimed Rebel Cheese, recently joined The Ash Said It Show to pull back the curtain on the brand’s meteoric rise. From military discipline to the largest vegan brie cavein the country, Maitland shared the surprising secrets behind her Shark Tank success and how she’s converting die-hard dairy lovers one creamy, cultured wheel at a time.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in vegan food innovation, conscious business growth, and the power of a daring career pivot.
Maitland was clear that the brand's success in creating the "world’s best artisan vegan brie" comes from rejecting modern shortcuts. The company's commitment to traditional cheesemaking techniques—including the use of a temperature and humidity-controlled vegan brie cave—is non-negotiable. This meticulous aging process, she explained, is essential for cultivating the complex, "funky" flavor profiles and genuine textures that simply cannot be achieved with food science alone.
The shocking truth? Most of Rebel Cheese’s customers are not vegan. Maitland credited this conversion success to two key factors: flavor and familiarity. The cheeses are designed to function exactly like their dairy counterparts—they slice, melt, and hold up on a dairy-free charcuterie board. By focusing on replicating beloved classics like their Smoked Cheddar and Cave-Aged Brie, Rebel Cheese removes the intimidating element of the unknown for traditional cheese lovers.
What non-obvious skill does a former Navy veteran entrepreneur bring to making plant-based cheese? Protocol Adherence and Adaptability. Maitland revealed that her experience as an Operations Specialist and later an Agile Coach in Big Tech taught her to build robust, repeatable processes (critical for food safety and quality control) while maintaining the agility to quickly iterate on recipes and scale production. This structure is the unseen foundation that supports the brand's artisanal quality at a mass scale.
The Shark Tank investment from Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner caused an "explosion" in e-commerce orders. Maitland explained that scaling meant implementing a modular production system. Rather than sacrificing the small-batch, handcrafted process, they replicated it. They invested in equipment to handle the raw material processing (cashews) efficiently, but kept the culturing, aging, and finishing of the cheese strictly hands-on, ensuring the artisanal standard remains in every wheel shipped nationwide.
Beyond the capital and media boost, Maitland's most valuable takeaway was the need for ruthless strategic focus. The Sharks' scrutiny forced the team to prioritize the most scalable, high-margin products—the ones that truly "rebelled" against expectations—allowing them to streamline their offerings and dominate the premium plant-based cheese market.
In a transparent discussion, Maitland addressed the realities of running a high-growth business while staying true to its values. She emphasized that balancing the "values-led" mission with the demands of a "financially sustainable small business" requires transparent communication and strategic operational contractionswhen necessary. The core principle, she stated, is integrity—in their product, their financials, and their public messaging.
Maitland sees the next major hurdle for high-end vegan food innovation not in replicating flavor, but in achieving price parity with dairy. The strategy for Rebel Cheese is to leverage increased volume and better supply chain relationships to drive down the cost of premium ingredients, ultimately making gourmet dairy-free foods accessible to the mass market and leading the charge into a truly plant-powered future.
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