Lindsey Fredrick

Lindsey Fredrick is an American entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Tart, a certified organic sparkling beverage brand built around tart cherry juice.^[1] She developed the product's recipe in her college kitchen at Michigan State University's Eli Broad College of Business beginning in January 2023, while managing more than thirty food allergies and persistent gut health issues.^[1][3] Tart launched on January 1, 2026, and within eight months the brand had secured placement at retailers including Erewhon, was accepted into UNFI's UpNext supplier development program, and won the 2026 Startup CPG Shelfie Award in the Beverage with Benefits category, selected from more than 2,000 submitted products.^[2][4]

Fredrick grew up in Clarkston, Michigan, a suburb north of Detroit, and graduated from Michigan State in 2024 with a bachelor's degree in marketing.^[19][1] She entered the beverage industry with no prior CPG experience, teaching herself formulation, manufacturing, retail sales, and distribution as she built the company.^[3] Tart's flagship product, Original Cherry, contains five organic ingredients — carbonated mineral water, organic tart cherry, cranberry, lime, and lemon — with no natural flavors, preservatives, or additives.^[8][7] By mid-2026, the brand had expanded distribution across Michigan, New Jersey, Colorado, Maine, New York, and California, with Texas expansion in progress.^[1]

Fredrick grew up in Clarkston, Michigan, a small suburb north of Detroit.^[19] She has lived with more than thirty food allergies since childhood, a condition that shaped her relationship with food from an early age.^[1] In a 2026 interview with Beverage Industry, she recalled being frequently turned away from restaurants and struggling to find foods and drinks that aligned with her dietary needs.^[1] Her family emphasized healthy and nutritious eating, which she has cited as a formative influence on her later focus on clean-label products.^[1]

Before college, Fredrick operated a photography business, LMF Photography, from 2016 to 2020.^[19] She graduated from Clarkston High School in 2020 and enrolled at Michigan State University's Eli Broad College of Business, where she studied marketing and graduated in 2024.^[19][1] During her time at MSU, she held leadership roles in the Beta Phi chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha, serving as chapter president in 2022 and vice president of programming.^[19] She also held concurrent marketing roles at Graduate Hotels, Bumble, and Stellantis, gaining experience in brand activation, event coordination, and campus marketing.^[19][14]

It was during college that Fredrick began exploring cooking as a way to manage her allergies. She started drinking tart cherry juice for its anti-inflammatory and muscle recovery properties but found the existing products unpalatable.^[1] In January 2023, she began mixing tart cherry juice with other staples from her college refrigerator — cranberry, lime, lemon, and carbonated mineral water — until she had a version she wanted to drink every day.^[1][3] The concoction became a running joke among her friends, who encouraged her to commercialize it.^[9]

Early marketing roles (2021–2024)

While enrolled at Michigan State, Fredrick held a series of brand ambassador and marketing positions. She served as a marketing ambassador for Graduate Hotels, a boutique hotel chain targeting college-town markets, from 2021 to 2023.^[19] From 2022 to 2024, she worked as an event specialist and campus lead at Bumble, managing on-campus brand activations and community events.^[19] She also completed an internship at Stellantis, the multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in the Detroit area, in 2022–2023.^[19] After graduating in 2024, she took a role as ambassador marketing manager at Mission Restaurant Group, which she held through early 2026 while simultaneously building Tart.^[19][14]

These roles gave Fredrick direct experience in grassroots marketing, event-driven brand promotion, and consumer engagement — skills she later applied to Tart's demo-heavy retail strategy.^[14]

Tart — founding and recipe development (2023–2025)

Fredrick spent nearly three years developing Tart before its commercial launch. The recipe originated in January 2023 in her Michigan State kitchen, where she experimented with tart cherry juice as a personal wellness solution.^[1][3] She had been drinking tart cherry for its anti-inflammatory benefits but found existing products difficult to enjoy, so she began blending it with cranberry, lime, lemon, and carbonated mineral water.^[1] The drink became a daily habit, and her college friends — who had watched the recipe evolve through dozens of iterations — urged her to turn it into a product.^[9]

Fredrick had no prior experience in the beverage industry. In a Vegpreneur interview, she said: "Before launching Tart, I knew almost nothing about the beverage industry. Everything from formulation to manufacturing, retail, and distribution has been learned by asking questions, making mistakes, and figuring it out as I went."^[3] She pursued certified organic status for the product — a process she later described as months-long and full of delays — but one that became a retail differentiator once achieved.^[9][8] She also made the decision to produce Tart's mineral water in-house rather than shipping it in, a choice driven by quality control and cost considerations.^[18]

The brand's name came directly from the product's defining ingredient — tart cherry — and its flavor profile.^[7] The packaging, a red can that Fredrick nearly passed over during the design process, became the brand's most recognizable visual asset.^[9]

Tart — launch and first year (2026–present)

Tart launched on January 1, 2026.^[2][5] Two weeks later, Fredrick secured a booth in the Startup CPG section at the Winter Fancy Food Show, where she distributed approximately 1,000 samples and met retail buyers — with no formal CPG background and no established distribution network.^[9][14] The trade show appearance generated immediate buyer interest and set the pace for the brand's first year.^[9]

Within eight months of launch, Tart had secured placement at Erewhon in Los Angeles, Nude Miami, Happier Grocery, Laurel Supply, Granny's Deli in Hermosa Beach, and Hotel Lucile in Silver Lake.^[2][1] The brand expanded distribution from Michigan to retailers across New Jersey, Colorado, Maine, New York, and California, with Texas expansion underway by mid-2026.^[1] Fredrick credited the Startup CPG founder community — a network of approximately 35,000 CPG founders — as a distribution accelerant, noting that the community's shared reputation opened doors with retail buyers.^[18]

In August 2026, Tart won the 2026 Startup CPG Shelfie Award in the Beverage with Benefits category, the brand's first industry award.^[2][4] The award was selected from more than 2,000 submitted products across all CPG categories.^[2][10] Also in 2026, Tart was accepted into UNFI's UpNext Program, a supplier development program for emerging brands within the UNFI distribution network.^[2] The company completed its first fundraising round in 2026 at the pre-seed stage; the amount was not disclosed.^[3]

Tart's product line centers on its flagship Original Cherry, a five-ingredient sparkling beverage containing carbonated mineral water, organic tart cherry, cranberry, lime, and lemon.^[8][7] The product contains no natural flavors, preservatives, or additives — a positioning Fredrick has described as increasingly aligned with consumer trends away from natural flavors in the clean-label space.^[18][9] Tart was also featured at the 2026 Summer Fancy Food Show in the Startup CPG Pavilion.^[6]

In August 2026, Tart won the Startup CPG Shelfie Award in the Beverage with Benefits category, selected from more than 2,000 submitted products across all CPG categories.^[2][4][13] The award was the brand's first industry recognition, received less than eight months after its January 2026 launch.^[2]

Also in 2026, Tart was accepted into UNFI's UpNext Program, a supplier development program for emerging brands with growth potential within the UNFI distribution network.^[2] Fredrick was included in Startup CPG's editorial roundup of thirteen female-founded beverage brands.^[17]

Fredrick is based in the Detroit metropolitan area and Tart is headquartered in Clarkston, Michigan.^[1][19] She has lived with more than thirty food allergies since childhood, a condition she has described as the central motivation behind Tart's formulation and clean-label philosophy.^[1][9] She travels regularly between Michigan and Los Angeles to run in-store product demonstrations and build West Coast retail relationships.^[14][16]