Core and Rind

What Core and Rind does

Core and Rind is a small American plant-based food company founded in 2016 and headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. The company produces Core and Rind Cashew Cheesy Sauce, a plant-based, dairy-free queso alternative positioned around punchy flavor and smooth texture. It operates as a privately held for-profit entity with a lean team of 1-10 employees and was co-founded by Candi Haas and Rita Childers.

The company's core offering is a single product category (cashew-based cheese sauce) sold presumably through direct-to-consumer and/or specialty channels. There is no disclosed information on distribution partnerships, retail placement, manufacturing model (co-packer vs. in-house), pricing tiers, or customer segments in the source data. Total disclosed funding across four rounds from 2017 to 2021 is approximately $206,000, sourced from small checks including a $50,000 Arch Grants award (St. Louis-based funder) and a $1,000 grant from The BALSA Foundation, alongside two undisclosed-investor rounds of $5,000 and $150,000. The funding pattern is consistent with a sub-scale, early-stage consumer packaged goods venture operating on non-dilutive and small equity capital.

Note: The domain coreandrind.com currently resolves to Thai-language content for Tookhuay88, an unrelated online lottery aggregation platform. This appears to reflect a domain ownership or use change unrelated to Core and Rind's underlying food business, and the firmographic and leadership data are consistent with the original St. Louis-based plant-based CPG venture rather than the lottery operations.

Name

Core and Rind

Website

https://coreandrind.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Core and Rind is a small St. Louis-based plant-based food company founded in 2016 that produces a dairy-free cashew cheesy sauce (queso alternative) and has raised approximately $206K in early-stage grants and seed funding.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Plant-based dairy alternatives

NAICS

Mayonnaise, Dressing, and Other Prepared Sauce Manufacturing (311941)

SIC

Miscellaneous Food Preparations & Kindred Products (2090), Food And Kindred Products (2000)

akta.pro primary industry

Refrigerated Dips & Spreads (Cream Cheese, Hummus, Salsa, Guacamole) (CRADACAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Plant-Based Butter & Spread Alternatives Processing (Margarine-style, Cultured Spreads) (AFAHAJAD)

Keywords

• Plant-based cheese sauce
• Cashew queso alternative
• Dairy-free sauces
• Vegan food products
• Plant-based dips

Headquarters

HQ city

St Louis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Lottery wagering take rate: Platform collects wagers on various lottery types (Thai government, Yi Gi, Laos, Hanoi, Malaysian, international stock-index lotteries) and retains a portion of each bet as platform revenue, while paying out winnings to winning players at advertised rates.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Core and Rind produces and sells a plant-based, dairy-free cashew cheesy sauce designed as a queso alternative with a punchy flavor profile and smooth texture. The product is targeted at consumers seeking vegan and dairy-free condiment options. Operations are run by a small (1–10 employee) team out of St. Louis, Missouri, with early-stage grant-supported manufacturing and distribution.

Product overview

Core and Rind operates coreandrind.com, a content and review platform focused on Tookhuay88, an online lottery aggregation platform. The site provides free lottery result checking tools for Thai Government Lottery, Laos Lottery, and Hanoi Lottery as its main product features. Additionally, the platform reviews and covers various lottery types including Thai Government Lottery (หวยรัฐบาลไทย), Yi Gi Lottery (หวยยี่กี), Laos Lottery (หวยลาว), Hanoi Lottery (หวยฮานอย), Malaysian Lottery (หวยมาเลย์), and Stock Lottery (หวยหุ้น). The core offering consists of result checking services, lottery information, and platform reviews rather than a unified software product with multiple integrated modules.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cashew Cheesy Sauce A plant-based, dairy-free cashew-based cheesy sauce formulated as a vegan queso alternative with a punchy flavor profile and smooth texture. Targeted at lactose-intolerant, vegan, and dairy-averse consumers seeking a flavorful replacement for traditional dairy-based queso or cheese sauce for use as a dip, topping, or recipe ingredient.

Quantifiable outcome

• Withdrawal processing completed within approximately 3–5 minutes for most transactions
• +1 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Siete Foods: Austin-based CPG brand built around grain- and nut-based alternatives including dairy-free cashew queso; direct head-to-head competitor in the refrigerated plant-based queso/dip category.
• Good Food For Good: Plant-based dips, sauces, and condiments brand offering dairy-free queso-style products; comparable small-batch refrigerated CPG with overlapping retail and ingredient positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Trader Joe's (house brand): Operates its own dairy-free cashew queso line that competes on price at scale; demonstrates category demand while also crowding out branded entrants via private-label economics.
• Follow Your Heart: Long-established plant-based dairy and condiment brand (Vegenaise, dairy-free shreds, slices); comparable ingredient base and refrigerated CPG format with national distribution.
• Miyoko's Creamery: Premium plant-based cheese brand using cashew and oat bases with national natural-channel presence; the clearest scaled analog on ingredient technology and target shopper.
• Violife: Global plant-based cheese alternative brand owned by Upfield; competes in the same dairy-free cheese sauce and shred category at much larger scale and broader distribution.
• So Delicious Dairy Free: National plant-based dairy brand (owned by Danone) with cheese alternatives and creamy products; relevant scaled comparable for shelf positioning and category trends.

Emerging players

• Nush Foods: Nut- and plant-based dairy alternatives including cheese spreads; small founder-led CPG with overlapping ingredient and format strategy targeting natural-channel retailers.
• Forager Project: Plant-based dairy alternative brand (cashew yogurt, cheese, milks); comparable refrigerated CPG with overlapping cashew-based ingredient platform and natural food retail presence.
• Spero Foods: Seed-to-spread plant-based cheese brand using sunflower and other seeds; direct small-brand comparable innovating in dairy-free cheese sauce and spread formats.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat1 record

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/coreandrind
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/core-rind

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Core and Rind