ESA (elohi strategic advisors)

What ESA (elohi strategic advisors) does

ESA (Elohi Strategic Advisors) is a woman-owned and woman-led professional services firm focused exclusively on strategy and execution support for the foodservice industry. Operating as Kilbryde Sharpe LLC (DBA Elohi Strategic Advisors), the firm is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and is staffed by 20+ professionals delivering against six core service areas. The client base spans both enterprise CPG incumbents and emerging food brands, with named relationships including Kraft Heinz, Impossible Foods, Lightlife, Quorn, Sara Lee, and Marzetti.

The firm's product surface combines traditional consulting deliverables with proprietary consumer research assets, including the "Diet Drivers," "Diet Drivers 2," and "The Taste of Change: Cell-Cultured Meat" reports. These research products function as both client engagement IP and standalone thought-leadership offerings, positioning the firm as a specialist insights provider within the foodservice vertical. Leadership is structured as a formal C-suite including a CEO, Founder, COO, CMO, CTO, and Chief Insights Officer, indicating a deliberate professionalization beyond the founder-led boutique stage.

The business model is project-based professional services revenue: engagements are scoped per client, with no disclosed technology platform, recurring SaaS product, or subscription offering. There are no reported funding rounds, acquisitions, or M&A activity, and the firm has not disclosed patents or proprietary software. Growth signals — sequenced research launches, an expanding enterprise logo set, and cross-border execution capability demonstrated via client Tindle's rollout across 8 countries — point to incremental scaling within the existing services model rather than a platform pivot.

Name

ESA (elohi strategic advisors)

Legal name

Kilbryde Sharpe LLC DBA Elohi Strategic Advisors

Website

https://elohi.us

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ESA (Elohi Strategic Advisors) is a woman-owned, Chicago-based professional services firm delivering foodservice strategy and execution support across six service areas to enterprise CPG and emerging food brand clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Foodservice Consulting Services

NAICS

Special Food Services (7223)

akta.pro primary industry

Institutional Foodservice Distribution (Education, Healthcare, Government) (CRAOABAM)

Keywords

• Foodservice consulting
• Go-to-market strategy
• Sales enablement services
• Foodservice advisory
• Consumer research insights

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Strategic Advisory and Consulting Services: ESA provides end-to-end solutions including corporate management and strategy, product and operations support, culinary services, sales team setup and support, marketing services, and research and insights. Revenue appears to be generated through professional services engagements with clients seeking to enter or expand in the foodservice industry.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

ESA provides end-to-end foodservice strategy and execution services to help companies enter and grow in the foodservice channel. Offerings are organized into six practice areas: Corporate Management & Strategy (including temporary drop-in executive services), Product & Operations (pricing, pipeline, co-pack, trade spend), Culinary (recipe development, training videos), Sales Team Set-Up & Support (recruiting, training, broker/ distributor programs, CRM), Marketing (planning, digital, PR, food shows), and Research & Insights (custom research and proprietary consumer reports such as Diet Drivers and The Taste of Change: Cell-Cultured Meat).

Product overview

Elohi Strategic Advisors is a woman-owned strategic advisory and business consulting firm specializing in the foodservice industry. The company offers a comprehensive suite of end-to-end services organized into six core practice areas: Corporate Management & Strategy, Product & Operations, Culinary Services, Sales Team Set-Up & Support, Marketing Services, and Research and Insights. These service lines function as an integrated commercialization engine that helps companies enter the foodservice market, develop products, build distribution, and execute go-to-market strategies. Additionally, ESA offers proprietary consumer research reports including the Diet Drivers, Diet Drivers 2, and The Taste of Change: Cell-Cultured Meat reports, which provide data-backed insights for clients in the better-for-you, plant-based, and alternative protein spaces. ESA does not offer a software product but rather provides hands-on consulting, advisory, and execution support delivered by a team of more than 20 professionals across sales, marketing, supply chain, customer care, training, and support.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Corporate Management & Strategy Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Client grew their foodservice business tremendously after pricing strategy engagement
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers27 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• The Partnering Group (TPG): Strategy consulting firm focused on retail and foodservice, advising consumer brands on category management, shopper marketing, and operator relationships — overlapping closely with ESA's foodservice commercialization practice.
• Sterling-Rice Group: Brand strategy and innovation firm purpose-built for food and beverage clients, offering positioning, innovation, and go-to-market support — closely aligned with ESA's brand-side foodservice advisory work.
• Foodmix Marketing Communications: B2B marketing communications agency exclusively serving the foodservice industry, helping CPG brands build operator-facing marketing, PR, and digital programs — a directly comparable marketing-services peer within ESA's niche.
• Harvest Group: Foodservice management consulting firm supporting CPG brands with sales, brokerage, and category management into foodservice operators — a directly comparable strategic advisory and execution model for ESA's target clients.
• Technomic (a Circana company): Foodservice industry research and insights provider publishing operator and consumer data — directly comparable to ESA's research and insights practice and its proprietary consumer research reports.
• Cannondale Associates: Boutique foodservice strategy consulting firm that helps CPG brands develop and execute foodservice go-to-market strategies, sales force buildouts, and operator engagement programs — directly comparable to ESA's end-to-end advisory model.
• Daymon (formerly Daymon Worldwide): Global private-brand and foodservice consultancy helping CPG companies develop and scale brand and foodservice strategies — a long-standing comparable peer in foodservice commercialization advisory.
• Curiosity Agency: Independent agency specializing in food, beverage, and supplement brands with strategy, creative, and media services — comparable to ESA on the marketing-services side of its integrated offering.

Broad incumbents

• Barkley: Independent advertising and marketing agency with a strong CPG and food service practice — broader incumbent peer overlapping ESA's marketing-services practice area.
• Clarkston Consulting: Management consulting firm with a dedicated consumer products and food & beverage practice covering GTM, sales, and operations strategy — a broader incumbent peer overlapping ESA's enterprise client work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/elohiofficial
• Facebookfacebook.com/elohistrategicadvisors
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/elohi-strategic-advisors
• Instagraminstagram.com/elohi.us

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 ESA (elohi strategic advisors)