Services

Contact Me

Planting, developing, and growing your food & beverage innovations.

Reformulation

  • Existing Recipe Optimization
  • Ingredient Sourcing
  • Shelf-Life Extension

New Product Development

  • Ingredient Sourcing
  • Benchtop Prototypes
  • Cost Analysis
  • Finalized % by Weight Formula

Certification Consulting

  • Organic
  • Fair Trade
  • Kosher
  • Gluten Free
  • Non-GMO
  • Vegan

Food Label Compliance

  • Nutritional Facts Table Creation (CA/US formats)
  • Ingredient Declaration Creation (EN/FR)
  • Existing Food Label Reviews (CFIA/FDA requirements)

One-On-One Consulting

  • Hourly Consulting (Zoom or in person)
  • R&D: On Site Plant Trial/1st Production Run Consulting
  • QA/Food Safety: Audit Preparation/On Site Walkthrough

Projects

A list of the brands that Karen has worked with throughout her career.

Meet Our Team!
Steve Wright
Product Developer

Meet Steve, our talented food and beverage product developer with a strong culinary background. With years of experience in restaurant kitchens, industrial food production, and beverage creation, Steve brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to every project. His attention to detail, extensive knowledge of vegan and gluten-free cooking, and strength in prototyping make him a valuable asset to our team.

Steve conducts thorough research on kitchen processes and techniques to efficiently scale recipes for production. With his exceptional palate and experience in food production, he has created many unique and delicious recipes developed for large-scale production.

Karen Cardona
Food Scientist & Educator

Meet Karen, our experienced food scientist, educator, and food enthusiast. With roots in Canada & El Salvador and a passion for world travel, Karen brings a unique perspective and a wealth of expertise to her work. 

Karen's vast experience in the food industry has allowed her to become an expert in food & beverage innovation. She has worked with some of the largest food brands to develop new products, as well as with startup companies during the pivotal growth phase. 

She has obtained extensive training in sensory evaluation techniques, has a deep understanding of consumer trends, food safety & industrial operations, and is adept at
developing and refining recipes that meet the unique needs of each client.

Kikis Cookies

I chose Karen to help me with my food product development because of her deep passion for food and creating new recipes. She is TRULY a food industry and product development expert and understands the underlying science behind food! She has also had a ton of varied experience in large manufacturing plants including Nestle, where I even got to experience some of the unique ice cream and sorbets she had created!

I also LOVE her ability to think on the spot and be ultra creative ... She's really helped me refine my wheat-free cookie recipe and I'll continue to work with her when I launch a new recipe!

Mehetta Foods

Karen came highly recommended to me via the Food Venture Program. From the moment she was introduced, the high level of professionalism stood out.  From the Non-Disclosure Agreement to the finished product.  Karen knows her craft well. 

The test recipes/products she delivered were amazing.  The final products and flavours of my bammies are a hit with my customers!  Her kind, patient, and professionalism make her fun to work with.  She’s a superstar recipe developer!!

Baked By Te

I had the opportunity to learn from Karen's expertise during our Foodpreneur sessions. She has a wealth of knowledge regarding product research and development and has experience working with industry leading brands. As a new food entrepreneur in the plant-based space, I was thrilled to learn that Karen has helped many vegan/plant based food brands with their recipe ideas development.

Not only did Karen make me feel very comfortable and welcome, but listened to me attentively and worked with me to create a plan of action. If you are lost or need some guidance, Karen can help you! I highly recommend True Leaves consulting agency!

Plant Baby

We had the pleasure of working with Karen and Steve to help us create the perfect formulation for our plant-based drink for children. It was challenging because there were so many aspects to consider, such as consistency, flavour, ingredient nutritional value, available suppliers, etc. But thanks to their expertise and knowledge, we found the right combination to create the formulation we needed, and now we are ready to launch our product.

Karen also provided guidance and support with the Nutritional Fact Table and our category's regulatory aspects, which was very valuable for us. We highly recommend working with True Leaves Consulting; they are professionals, kind and experts in their field.

Nah Joke Hot Peppersauce

It is very obvious that Karen is very knowledgeable in her field by the manner in which she presents what could be very overwhelming information to start-up businesses, leaving one with a better understanding of the intricacies of the food industry.

I found the information she shared to be very valuable as I work on scaling my business.

Maker Bars

True Leaves Consulting was introduced to our brand through a connection at the LEDC and exceeded all expectations! Karen went above and beyond in helping our team with formulations, regulatory compliance, scaling formulations for a co-manufacturer, and English-French translation. We worked through over 20 product iterations to improve the existing formulation while keeping the superior taste consistent.

I continued to go back to Karen for input on launching production, improving formulations, as well as exploring ideas how to increase our shelf-life. I would recommend getting in touch with Karen to see how True Leaves Consulting could be of help as the team has a breadth of knowledge covering many domains.

Testimonials
Kikis Cookies
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