"We knew that we needed to have at least between 25 to 30 grams of protein to be a clear differentiator in the marketplace," Soni said. "The fiber portion was probably the hardest thing for us to formulate. If you think about how these products get made, fiber naturally clumps. We had to do a ton of testing and formulating to get it to a point where it was smooth and poured really nice and tasted good with a good texture."
Soni originally launched the product in January 2024 in a strawberry flavor.
The company halted production after a fire broke out at its California-based co manufacturing facility in April 2025.
The product was nearly ready to launch for testing at a tradeshow when Soni got the news no founder wants to hear.
"My next thought was I had my ingredients there and it had taken so long to find this co manufacturer for my product," Soni said. "It was devastating."
Soni found a new co-manufacturer and forged on to rebuild Todo. The company launched reformulated products this fall.
"The product that launched last year was in a bottle and we changed from a bottle to cans," he said. "So, the processing is different and it took a long time to find someone who was willing to make our product for us."
The switch to more indulgent flavors, including milk chocolate, chocolate hazelnut and espresso varieties was due to "fruity or citrusy flavors getting lost in the cooking method."
"Milk has a caramel flavor when you heat it up," Soni said. "We thought what would be good to mask that flavor (with) chocolate. Milk chocolate and espresso did really well in our testing."
Taking steps toward adding scale
Todo was selected by the California Milk Advisory Board as one of eight cohorts to compete in the sixth annual Real California Milk Excelerator program in 2024.
The company won $30,000 by placing in the top four and now qualifies to compete for a $100,000 prize to be awarded if they can sell the most product versus the other competitors.
"They (CMAB) helped us find the first manufacturer that burned down and the second one as well," Soni said. "Without them, I probably would've had to shut down the business."
Ben Yee, vice president of processor partnerships at CMAB, said to be selected for the program, companies must showcase innovation in a lot of different ways.
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