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Jake Karls shared thisYears ago, we launched MDS at Walmart Canada. Today, our full No Bread PBJ lineup is launching nationwide. That includes our new Apple Cinnamon flavour. It’s delicious, and I’m excited for people to try it. You’ll find it in the produce-section fridges, alongside our chocolate line. Our growth with Walmart started slowly. It took time to learn what worked, make adjustments and build momentum. Over the last two years, Walmart Canada has become one of our fastest-growing accounts. Retail is hard. Getting on the shelf is a huge step. Getting the product moving off the shelf takes a hell of a lot more work. Marketing to get people interested. Sales strategies to turn that interest into purchases. Logistics and supply chain to keep the product available when people come looking for it. There’s a tremendous amount happening behind a stocked fridge. This partnership has taught us a lot about patience and execution. Growth took time, and we had to keep learning and doing the work while it was still slow. The Walmart Canada team has been awesome to build with. Thank you for supporting the full lineup and continuing to grow with us. Thank you to everyone who picks up our products at Walmart. You’re a huge part of this. And most importantly, thank you to our team. Developing the products, making them, creating demand, getting orders out the door and building these relationships. So much work goes into making a launch like this possible. I’m proud of what we’re doing together and excited for what’s next. Find our No Bread PBJ and chocolate lines in the fridge at Walmart Canada.
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Jake Karls shared thisI get to work with my mom… It’s one of the greatest parts of this whole journey. She goes to grocery stores to check on our products. Then she buys them for the staff to try… She meets the managers, store clerks and cashiers and tells them our story. She also helps merchandise our products. This is how she chooses to spend her spare time. And that’s just the store visits. She volunteers for trade shows and demos. Asks to come to retail meetings. Hands out squares on airplanes. Writes the notes on the Polaroids we send customers. She does all of this for free. We’ve tried to pay her. She won’t take it. She’s proud of her kids, loves the people around this business and wants to help us grow. At CHFA East this weekend, so many people asked me, “Where’s your mom? I love her.” That means something. We spend a lot of time thinking about how to build a brand people care about. She’s doing it one conversation, one store visit, one handwritten note at a time. People remember her. They’re excited to see her. They feel connected to the people behind the product. She puts real time and effort into those relationships, and I want to give her credit for that. I’m grateful we have her at Mid-Day Squares. And personally, getting to work and travel with my mom, laugh together and share more of our lives is a huge privilege. Love you, Mom. Thank you for everything you put into this.
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Jake Karls shared thisThis week was a really special one… Mid-Day Squares’ story and brand were featured at the Costco Gala in front of thousands of people. A pretty surreal moment for our team. We’re now in Costco across Canada and in the Northeast, Midwest and Northwest regions of the U.S., which still feels pretty crazy to say. We’re really grateful to Costco for being such an incredible partner and for the opportunity to keep building together. A lot has happened over the last eight years. Hopefully this is just the beginning, and one day Mid-Day Squares will be in Costcos around the world. Art Direction and Graphic Design: Marc Kandalaft
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Jake Karls shared thisWe just launched No Bread PBJ Apple Cinnamon. And it’s delicious… This is a huge moment for Mid-Day Squares. Our team put so much time and work into this one. Developing the recipe, getting the taste and texture right, figuring out production, and getting it out the door. What’s crazy is that this entire product line (No Bread PBJ’s) came out of a crisis. When cocoa prices went through the roof, it nearly took out our business. We’d spent years building a company around chocolate, and suddenly we had to rethink what came next. No Bread PBJ was a huge risk. Today, it’s becoming our top-selling line. In less than a year, we’ve launched Strawberry, Grape and now Apple Cinnamon. It’s also opened up a much bigger opportunity: building Mid-Day Squares into a mid-day snacking platform. Chocolate bars, PBJ, and more products to come, all built around making that snack in the middle of your day something you look forward to. Seeing our community love these products and keep coming back has given us the confidence to go much further. We’re investing heavily in R&D and innovation as we grow into a broader mid-day snacking company. All gas, no brakes. To our team: thank you for everything it took to get here. And to our retail partners and everyone buying the squares and telling a friend: You’re making this all possible. Apple Cinnamon is available at select retailers (in the fridge), with more coming soon. You can also find it on our website. Can’t wait for you to try it.
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Jake Karls shared thisYears of work are showing up all at once at Mid-Day Squares… New retailers. Factory expansion. Record sales month. New flavour. It’s been a wild month. And honestly, the building feels like it’s shaking right now. Here’s some of the updates: Last month was our biggest sales month ever. We’re about to launch a new flavour. I think it’s our best one yet. Very indulgent. We just launched into Costco, Walmart, Sam’s Club and BJ���s, in select stores at all four. Our No Bread PBJ’s just got on shelf at many of our current retailers. We started the first phase of our expansion in our factory to increase production capacity. We welcomed new team members. I want to give our team some serious credit here. Our production crew making millions of squares. Quality assurance making sure we get them right. Operations getting orders out and managing the expansion. R&D bringing new flavours to life. Sales building our retail partnerships. Finance making the numbers work. Marketing and customer experience keeping us connected to the people buying our products. All of this is happening at the same time. And it takes people across the entire business helping each other, solving problems, and caring about the details. To our team: thank you. There’s so much work people never see, and I don’t want it going unrecognized. I’m incredibly proud to build this with you. To our retail partners: thank you for continuing to believe in us and giving us shelf space. It’s a big deal to have that opportunity, and we take it seriously. And to everyone buying our squares, telling friends about us, and showing up for this brand: without you, we don’t have a business. Simple as that. There’s a lot left to figure out. There always is. But right now, I’m excited, grateful, and really hoping we can keep this momentum going. What a month.
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Jake Karls shared thisMid-Day Squares just launched into Costco USA… Our No-Bread PBJs are now in hundreds of Costco warehouses across: The Northeast, Midwest, and Northwest regions. We’ve been working on this one for a long time, So seeing it finally come to life is a huge moment for us. People see the product in the fridge. But behind that product is a massive amount of work and a lot of people. So I want to shout out our team. Our production crew getting the product made. Operations keeping everything moving. R&D building something people actually want. QA protecting the standard. Finance making the numbers work. Sales earning the opportunity. Marketing creating demand. Customer Experience listening to people every day. And of course, thank you to the Costco team for giving us a shot, to Costco members for supporting the product, and to our community for constantly showing up. Big partnership. Big momentum. Extremely grateful. Now find us in the fridges. Hopefully one day we can be available in all Costco regions!!
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Jake Karls shared thisYears ago, we kept hearing the same thing from co-manufacturers: “This product would be extremely hard to manufacture at scale.“ I remember having two reactions. The first was, this is going to be really hard. The second was, but what if it’s possible? So we made one of the biggest bets in the history of our company: We decided to build our own manufacturing. At the time, there was no guarantee it would work. No guarantee we’d ever have enough demand to justify it. No guarantee we’d become good enough at manufacturing to make the bet worth it. We just believed that if we could figure it out, we would have something incredibly valuable: More control over how we make the product, the ability to innovate faster, and the capacity to grow when the opportunities eventually came. For roughly the last six years, a huge amount of our time, money, energy, and attention has gone into making that decision work. Building the facility. Building the team. Getting better at operations. Breaking things, fixing things, learning, improving, and then doing it all again. A few days ago, our team made close to 175,000 squares in one day. And this month, we have some of the biggest retail launches we’ve ever had, with a lot of new innovation coming behind them. None of that happens without the work that was put in years before the opportunity showed up. That’s what I’ve been thinking about lately. Sometimes the biggest decisions you make don’t pay you back quickly. For years, they can actually make your life harder, more expensive, more complicated, and more stressful. And then one day, you realize the thing that created so much difficulty is now the reason you’re able to move. I’m incredibly grateful we made that bet. But I’m even more grateful for the people who turned the bet into something real: our production, operations, engineering, quality, supply chain, innovation teams, and everyone who kept making the facility better year after year. We made the decision to build it. They built the capability that now lets us dream much bigger. And it feels like we’re only starting to see what that decision made possible. Owning our own factory has become a great advantage for us.
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Jake Karls shared thisIt’s kind of crazy how many little things have to happen for this picture to exist… Three Mid-Day Squares products in a Walmart fridge. But when I look at them, I think about everything that had to happen before they got there. Eight years ago, We were making 50–100 squares a day by hand in a condo kitchen in Montreal. Since then, there have been thousands of small decisions. Making the product better. Figuring out how to produce at scale. Building our own manufacturing facility in Montreal where we make our products today. Getting the packaging right. Making the price work. Building a team. Creating demand. Getting rejected. Getting better. And convincing people to take a chance on us. And behind all of those decisions are people. Our team making the product every day. People working on operations, sales, marketing, packaging, finance, logistics and everything in between. Our suppliers and partners. Retailers giving us opportunities. And ultimately, customers deciding to pick us up. I think we tend to notice the big moments because those are the ones that get photographed. But the big moments usually only happen because of thousands of small ones that nobody sees. And this picture is really just another one of those moments. The Walmart USA team gave us a shot with three products in select stores, and we’re incredibly grateful for the opportunity. Now we have to make it count. We need people to find us, try us, hopefully come back for more and give us the chance to keep growing with Walmart. Maybe one day that means being in Walmarts across the country. For now, this is a really exciting start. Proud of our team. Grateful for the opportunity. And back to making the next small decision. Check our store locator to see if we’re in a Walmart near you. You’ll find us in the fridge.
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Jake Karls shared thisSeeing our No Bread PB&Js on a Costco end cap is pretty damn cool… Seeing how excited my mom got about it was even better. She started dancing, taking pictures, bringing her energy, and then talking to people about Mid-Day Squares, how it all started and why she’s so proud of what we’re building. Within 10 minutes, four people who had never tried us had a box in their carts. It was a simple reminder of how powerful genuine excitement can be. People felt her energy, heard the story and wanted to give us a shot. My mom has brought that energy to this company from day one, And somehow she keeps bringing more of it. Big love to the Costco team. Amazing people to work with and even better partners to grow with. Find us in the fridge at Costco Canada across the country!
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Jake Karls liked thisJake Karls liked thisWe booked 37 meetings in 14 hours at RecFest last week. We were maybe one of the few vendors whose banner said what we do. Everyone else had a logo. Or a tagline that said nothing about the problem they solve. And unless you were one of the few companies that had strong brand recognition. Buyers couldn't tell who did what when standing from afar. They had to guess which booth to walk towards. Trevor and I could watch it happen. The more confusing the banner, the fewer visitors. RecFest opened my eyes to the value of a good conference. More specifically if you're going to a conference, put the problem you solve on your banner. Not your logo. Not your tagline. The problem. If you can't fit it on a banner even with having multiple products, you probably need a stronger understanding of your mission and what you really bring to the table.
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Jake Karls liked thisJake Karls liked thissometimes looking back is the reminder you need to keep going. Jake Karls Thanks, Jake, for sharing this moment with me.
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Jake Karls liked thisYears ago, we launched MDS at Walmart Canada. Today, our full No Bread PBJ lineup is launching nationwide. That includes our new Apple Cinnamon flavour. It’s delicious, and I’m excited for people to try it. You’ll find it in the produce-section fridges, alongside our chocolate line. Our growth with Walmart started slowly. It took time to learn what worked, make adjustments and build momentum. Over the last two years, Walmart Canada has become one of our fastest-growing accounts. Retail is hard. Getting on the shelf is a huge step. Getting the product moving off the shelf takes a hell of a lot more work. Marketing to get people interested. Sales strategies to turn that interest into purchases. Logistics and supply chain to keep the product available when people come looking for it. There’s a tremendous amount happening behind a stocked fridge. This partnership has taught us a lot about patience and execution. Growth took time, and we had to keep learning and doing the work while it was still slow. The Walmart Canada team has been awesome to build with. Thank you for supporting the full lineup and continuing to grow with us. Thank you to everyone who picks up our products at Walmart. You’re a huge part of this. And most importantly, thank you to our team. Developing the products, making them, creating demand, getting orders out the door and building these relationships. So much work goes into making a launch like this possible. I’m proud of what we’re doing together and excited for what’s next. Find our No Bread PBJ and chocolate lines in the fridge at Walmart Canada.
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Jake Karls liked thisJake Karls liked thisI'm so pleased to be joining Mitsoh's Board of Directors. I've been really impressed with Brandon Markiw and Ian Gladue. Mitsoh isn't just another meat snack business - it's deeply connected to their families, their heritage, and their community. And they take seriously the responsibility that comes with being role models for those who follow. And I'm not the only one who's noticing - Mitsoh won a CHFA Trailblazer Small Business Award this past weekend! A great validation of the products, the team, and the work they've been doing. They've done a lot of heavy lifting to build this version of Mitsoh, and I'm excited to be joining at this stage of the journey. I'm also really looking forward to working again with Mike Fata on another great company!
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Jake Karls liked thisJake Karls liked thisAs the first product launch I’ve gotten to be a part of since joining Mid-Day Squares, this one just hits different!! Last week, the newest member of our No Bread PB&J lineup officially hit shelves… APPLE CINNAMON! 🍎✨ When I joined Mid-Day Squares, this upcoming launch was one of the first things I was briefed on and I was SO HYPE about this flavour from day one. There’s something pretty surreal about going from being a fan of this brand for years, watching launches from the outside, to now being behind the scenes helping bring one to life! And somehow, product after product, every new release becomes my new favourite…and this one is no exception 😋 Apple. Cinnamon. Peanut butter. Trust me on this one. Rolling out now across Canada & the US & available on our website, middaysquares.com Drop me a comment below once you’ve given it a try, I want to know what you think!!
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Jake Karls liked thisBensimon Byrne brought new meaning to the topic of #marketingfocus last night with a stellar panel discussion that included Victoria Freeman, Jake Karls, Lauren Belomy, Sarah Bartnicka and our very own Laura RobinsonLaura Robinson. If you are a company looking for a new creative approach, or just #findyourpeople, check out bensimonbyrne.com.Jake Karls liked thisTHE END OF EVERYTHING 29.09.2026 Bensimon Byrne Tadiem Whatta night!😮💨 Thanks for an awesome panel discussion bringing marketing leaders together to dig into the question: How does focus drive real growth? THE LINEUP Laura Robinson - Managing Director, Bensimon Byrne David Tran - SVP, Brand Health Tracking, Ipsos Sarah Bartnicka - Founder & Editor, Milk Bag Lauren Belomy - VP, Digital Experiences & Product, IMAX Victoria Freeman - SVP, Global Marketing, Canada Goose Jake Karls - Co-Founder, Mid-Day Squares THE CREW Sarah Brekelmans 🔆 - Founder & Principal Recruiter, Brightly Sarah Stapley - Founder & Creative Recruiter, Good People
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