We recently connected with Christina Paganelli and have shared our conversation below.

Christina, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

In health food retail, there’s a major misconception that strong branding equals strong profits. In reality, the more a mission-driven brand grows, the more financial pressure it faces. Profitability becomes elusive — not because there’s no demand, but because maintaining quality, ethics, and supply chain integrity is expensive.

As a brand, you carry the weight of the entire ecosystem: sourcing clean ingredients, ensuring sustainability, honoring shelf life, offering discounts, educating consumers — all while absorbing the losses from waste, spoilage, and rising raw material costs. Once a price is locked in with retailers, any fluctuations — whether from the farm or the freight — are expected to be absorbed by the brand.

Within the organic space, there’s a commitment to conscious capitalism, which means striving for mutual benefit across the supply chain. But this model is fragile. One cost shift — a crop failure, a packaging hike — can turn a healthy margin into a loss. And still, the pressure remains to price competitively, often lower than is viable, in hopes of building brand equity.

The harsh truth is, many brands operate at a loss while scaling, banking on a future exit — to be acquired by a larger corporation once the value is built. It’s a high-stakes gamble that’s increasingly become the norm. In this system, true profitability isn’t just a challenge — it’s almost countercultural.

Christina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Christina Paganelli, and I’m the founder of Drinkme®, a plant-based nutrition brand born from necessity and rooted in integrity. I didn’t start this business because I saw a trend — I started it because I needed to heal. Years ago, I was dealing with chronic health challenges that modern medicine couldn’t quite address. I turned to food, and through that journey, I realized there was a massive gap in the market: nothing truly clean, effective, and convenient existed — at least not in a way that supported whole-body health and busy lives.

That gap became my mission. I developed Drinkme® as a way to deliver powerful, whole-food nutrition using antioxidant-rich kale as the foundation — but without any of the toxic elements that are often hidden in produce or supplements. Every product is made with care, backed by science, and designed to support people at every stage of life and health. We work with both Canadian and U.S. manufacturing, and our premium organic line is even made on a farm in California where our oranges are grown — I personally hand-carry product into Canada to keep the chain clean and accountable. It’s an unusual model, but it works because it’s real.

What sets us apart is our total commitment to transparency, sustainability, and human-centered design. Drinkme® doesn’t just sell nutrition — we sell peace of mind, especially for people who are navigating health issues or looking to feel their best without sacrificing values. Our ingredients are simple. Our process is meticulous. And our purpose is crystal clear: to help people thrive.

I’m most proud of the fact that this business has survived against the odds — across borders, through economic challenges, and even through lockdowns where I had to find creative, hands-on ways to keep our products available to our community. And still, we’ve never strayed from our values. I’ve never taken shortcuts or compromised the integrity of our formulas.

For anyone just discovering us: know that Drinkme® is the result of real experience, personal healing, and relentless dedication to doing things the right way — even when it’s harder. I didn’t build this brand to impress. I built it to help. And that mission is what drives everything we do.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

had to unlearn the belief that one strong relationship is enough — and relearn how to trust, but with systems in place to protect that trust.

At one of the most promising points in our brand’s growth, a key supplier — someone we had worked with closely and relied on — filed for bankruptcy. What made it even more devastating was that they had our manufacturing equipment in their possession, which meant our entire production came to a sudden halt. Overnight, we lost the ability to fulfill orders, meet demand, and keep momentum. It was a forced pause — and a painful reset.

The experience shattered a sense of security I had in our operational structure. It was a harsh lesson in over-reliance. But instead of giving up, I rebuilt smarter. I learned the importance of diversification and strategic redundancy. We established two separate manufacturing facilities, in two different countries, and built two distinct market channels to safeguard the brand from future disruption.

Was it easy? Absolutely not. In fact, it created a new kind of complexity — and even a kind of déjà vu vulnerability. But the second time around, I was stronger, wiser, and better equipped to manage risk.

What I ultimately unlearned was the illusion that loyalty alone equals security. In business, trust must be paired with strategy. Today, our operations are more resilient because I learned to trust again — not blindly, but with clear structures that protect both the brand and the mission behind it.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

Yes — I manufacture all of my products, and I’ve been hands-on from the very beginning. I started in my home kitchen, hand-making small batches for a local farmers’ market in Manitoba. As demand grew, I moved into a small, rented facility that was approved for retail sales. It was still incredibly labor-intensive, but it was my first experience running a regulated food production space.

Eventually, I transitioned into a pilot plant that allowed me to manufacture under the necessary regulations for national retail sales. This was a pivotal moment — it opened the door to broader distribution and retail partnerships. As we continued to scale, we reached a point where we needed to move production to a third-party contract manufacturer. That decision allowed me and my team to focus on building sales channels and expanding our reach, without compromising on quality or food safety.

When I started, I didn’t know how to manufacture — but I learned by doing. Along the way, I taught myself how to track raw materials, forecast production cycles and cash flow, develop quality control systems, and manage food safety documentation. I came to deeply understand my cost of goods sold, margins, and breakeven points — all essential to keeping the business viable.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned? Manufacturing isn’t just about making a product — it’s about creating systems that allow your vision to scale, without losing its integrity. And every phase — from kitchen to contract manufacturer — has taught me something vital about patience, precision, and trust.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://drinkmebeverages.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drinkmebevco/