In this episode of Shopify Happy Hour, we sit down with Kristin Charbo, co-founder and CEO of glonuts—a clean, craveable donut alternative with just 1g of sugar. Kristin shares the honest story of building glonuts from her one-bedroom apartment kitchen alongside her co-founder (and now husband) Grover, hand-making over 100,000 donuts before scaling to national retail shelves.

We dive into how they approached retail without relying on digital ads, why packaging became their best salesperson, the challenges of manufacturing a totally unique product, and how they raised capital the scrappy way. Kristin also opens up about managing PCOS through diet and how that inspired glonuts' mission to make healthy snacking more fun and accessible.

Whether you're building a CPG brand or just love a good founder journey, this one’s packed with insights—and donut jokes.

Brands mentioned:

Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Daisey Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Kif
Erewhon
Alfred
Nowadays
Zara
French Squirrel

Chapters

00:00
Introduction to glonuts and Healthy Eating

06:21
The Origin Story of glonuts

12:14
Challenges in Manufacturing and Fundraising

20:13
Retail Strategy and Building Relationships

24:40
Marketing and Brand Differentiation

27:48
Future Plans for glonuts