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This Q&A features Kiersten Bartlett, 57, of Napa Valley, California. Bartlett worked as a professional chef with a background in farm-to-table cooking before starting her business, Legit Queso. sells queso crafted with whole ingredients and no preservatives. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

When did you start your business, and where did you find the inspiration for it?
When I dove into the farm-to-table movement and spent time at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, my standards for the food I cooked and bought expanded. Queso has been one of my favorite dips since childhood. But, like many people, my cheese dip experience was always limited to the classic Velveeta and Rotel combo. For years, that was the only style of queso I knew.

Then, in 2018, I began working on the Legit Queso brand to bring high-quality, chef-crafted cheese dip directly to consumers. We started making small batches, putting the absolute best ingredients into every container. A few years later, in 2025, I truly brought the business to life in Napa Valley. Legit Queso combines better-for-you ingredients with wildly fun, sustainable packaging that captures our brand’s loud personality.

Trial and error, finding the right co-manufacturer

What were some of the first steps you took to get Legit Queso off the ground?
After extensive recipe and meticulous ingredient testing, I worked with food scientists and consultants to develop the kitchen recipe for manufacturing. There was not only trial and error with the recipes, but also with finding the right co-manufacturer. I wasn’t going to rest until every aspect of Legit Queso was the highest quality possible.

This wasn’t a quick, easy or inexpensive process, but I knew the end results would be more than worth it. I’ve invested heavily in every area alongside the ingredients, sustainable packaging and branding, including my leadership team, marketing and design partners and sales brokers.

Are there any free or paid resources that have been especially helpful for you in starting and running this business? 
We have good traction on the wholesale platform and DTC from our website. Our most positive partnerships thus far have been with , which did the final design on our packaging and created our website and brand. Additionally, has taken our social media and SEO optimization to the next level.

The costly process of going from CPG concept to shelf

If you could go back in your business journey and change one process or approach, what would it be, and how do you wish you’d done it differently?
I’d consider raising money via outside investors instead of self-funding because a CPG product is very difficult and costly to bring to market. Taking the product from concept to a retailer’s shelf is all about margin, and we’re still working to figure that out. I promised myself I wouldn’t compromise on taste, ingredients or packaging, and I haven’t.

That said, using only the best of everything adds up quickly. Raising money pre-launch or in the early stages would have helped my bottom line immensely.

When it comes to this specific business, what is something you’ve found particularly challenging and/or surprising that people who get into this type of work should be prepared for, but likely aren’t?
One of the biggest challenges has been the timeline required to take a CPG food product from concept to shelf.  It’s a big investment in time and money to build the brand and break into the market. We’ve also learned a lot about distribution. Shipping a perishable, frozen product is expensive. We’re constantly looking for ways to reduce those costs for our customers. 

Also, running a business in a highly regulated state like California, navigating large-scale co-manufacturing and breaking into big retail chains have been some of our biggest hurdles. Taking a recipe from a chef’s mixing bowl and scaling it up to run on formulated production lines is incredibly tricky. We work with many industry experts to keep the quality of the product consistent at scale while navigating the complex game of retail distribution.

Slow but sure revenue growth

How long did it take you to see consistent monthly revenue?
We started seeing revenue right away by pushing sales right at launch to local specialty stores and wineries, as well as at the farmers’ market. We also recently started selling nationwide via our website. With every consumer and sales touchpoint, we are seeing revenue, slowly but surely, increase.

What does growth and revenue look like now?
We currently average $3,200 a month and expect to end 2026 at $100,000. It’s exciting to watch things build; we just had our biggest sales month and have incredible opportunities happening on the East Coast with Gopuff and Pop Up Grocer. 

What’s your best business advice?
Find your tribe. Trust the process. Ask for help. Use AI. Take care of yourself. Have fun!