Bowlsome — Ten customer conversations that unlocked national distribution

DTC Pet Food, Startup | Customer Research & Strategic Workshop

The Challenge

Bowlsome launched as a direct-to-consumer pet food brand with a clear ambition: bring premium, quality dog food direct to Australian pet owners. But as the product range grew, the business found itself pulled in two directions. Its hero product — a premium chilled meatball — required cold-chain logistics that contained delivery to a single state. A growing ambient range offered far less complexity and the potential for national reach. The team debated which direction to back, but without customer evidence, the conversation kept circling. Messaging was split across both lines, investment was scattered, and monthly revenue was struggling to find traction.

The Approach

Olivia came into Bowlsome with deep familiarity with the business and a background in qualitative research and customer insight. She designed a structured research project: 10 one-on-one customer interviews, each approximately one hour, conducted over Zoom. She built the interview script collaboratively with the Bowlsome team, coordinated scheduling through the customer service officer, and captured responses in Miro. Using AI-assisted clustering, she synthesised raw transcripts into clear insight themes and delivered a findings report. That was followed by a two-hour prioritisation workshop — built to end the circular debate and force a clear direction. The question at the centre: did customers actually value chilled over ambient?

The Outcome

They didn't. With customer evidence on the table, Bowlsome made a clean call — exit the chilled line and go all-in on ambient. Cost and logistics savings were immediate. More importantly, the team could finally focus: messaging sharpened around a clear proposition — quality, speed, and convenience, without cold-chain complexity. And with chilled distribution no longer constraining reach, national delivery opened up overnight. Revenue responded. Bowlsome broke through to its first months of consistent, growing revenue — a clear shift after months of struggling to find traction.

"In hindsight it was the obvious choice to make, but it was so hard to make the decision without the key customer insight." — John, CEO, Bowlsome