EP 81: Late July & Nixie Founder Nicole Bernard Dawes: Why Building Brands Is Her Extreme Sport

EP 81: Late July & Nixie Founder Nicole Bernard Dawes: Why Building Brands Is Her Extreme Sport

April 7, 2026 · 37 min · Season 2 · Episode 81

About this episode

Nicole Bernard Dawes discusses her journey in building successful food and beverage brands.

Creating a company with beloved products from scratch is no easy task, and Nicole Bernard Dawes has pulled it off twice. At 29, she launched Late July Snacks, which are famous for their flavored organic, non-GMO tortilla chips. When the $100+ million company was acquired by Campbell's in 2018, Bernard Dawes decided to do it all again. This time, she set her eyes on the competitive beverage business. In 20219, she launched Nixie, a line of organically flavored sparkling water and organic zero-sugar sodas. Nicole Bernard Dawes had a unique entrée into the world of entrepreneurship, which led to her two gigs as a CEO. Her father was Steve Bernard, co-founder of the Cape Cod Potato Chip Company. She grew up visiting the company’s factory in Hyannis and learning the business from him. After college, she worked for her dad and launched the brand's most popular product, their reduced-fat chips. The mother of two shares how those early business experiences shaped her, why she loves brand building, and her commitment to creating healthy food and drinks that are also tasty. 💬 In this episode, we explore: Why Nicole Bernard Dawes is obsessed with grocery stores, and what she’s looking at…

People in this episode

Host: Karen Finerman

Guest: Nicole Bernard Dawes

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Late July Snacks, Campbell's, Nixie, Cape Cod Potato Chip Company

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