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Papa Mountain: Chef-Inspired. Better for You.® Fully Baked Bread Rolls• Ready in Minutes Real Ingredients • No Seed Oils

  • Writer: KLS
    KLS
  • 11 hours ago
  • 11 min read

For the 260th feature of our "Together Talks" campaign, we collaborated with Papa Mountain and Founder, Solomon Cohen. At Papa Mountain, we’re passionate about creating delicious, wholesome food that brings families together. Founded by Solomon Cohen, a dedicated father with a love for good food, our journey began in Georgia with a simple mission: to provide quick, easy, and nutritious meal solutions for busy families. Our Products: We specialize in chef-inspired cheese bread rolls, crafted with all-natural, clean ingredients and proudly baked in Georgia.


Our products cater to diverse tastes and dietary preferences, ensuring that everyone can enjoy a delightful snack or side dish.


Flavors:

Cheddar & Parmesan: A crispy, golden brown crust encases a light, fluffy center overflowing with rich cheddar and parmesan cheese.

Garlic & Herb: Infused with aromatic garlic and savory herbs, these rolls feature a crisp exterior and a soft, airy interior.

Sweet Potato & Herb: A plant-based delight combining the natural sweetness of sweet potato with a burst of savory herbs, offering a tender, cheesy texture.

Chili Lime: A bold and zesty vegan option that pairs the kick of chili with the tang of lime, perfect for a spicy, satisfying snack.


Our Commitment: We are dedicated to quality and convenience, with products that are fully baked and flash-frozen to preserve freshness and ease of preparation. Every roll is crafted without preservatives, reflecting our commitment to clean, wholesome ingredients.


At Papa Mountain, we believe in the power of good food to create meaningful connections and enhance family moments. Our mission is to make nourishing meals accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Join us on our journey to redefine deliciousness with every bite!

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"Together Talks" feature 260: Papa Mountain presented by KLS - Your Trusted Shipping Solutions In The USA


Story of how it was created?

Papa Mountain started in 2017 in Ziploc bags at farmers markets. After I did a health-supportive cooking program, I was cheffing and doing some catering.


I started at Augusta Saturday Farmers Market with just a passion for doing down-to-earth, healthy cuisine and selling it. I started our current fully baked line, which was inspired by Brazilian-style cheese bread. We were selling it in raw pucks at first and slinging breakfast tacos.


We were a farmers market stand for the first seven years of our business. We outgrew a community-centered kitchen, and it’s been quite a trek. You always want to go bigger, and you’re always a startup. You’re dealing with the constraints of a community-centered kitchen. We would have UNFI and KeHE pick up with no loading dock and grab a lot for us, and we’d palletize case-by-case on the truck really quickly.


We outgrew that kitchen painfully. We couldn’t support larger orders, and you’re still just being optimistic. I remember being in that community center kitchen and calling on Costco. I had no business calling on Costco. There’s no way I could produce that. But I was still knocking on doors, even though I couldn’t support it.


And probably, thank God, they didn’t bite, I think, because we didn’t have a way to produce it. It would take us several weeks to produce two or three pallets. We definitely started focusing on a CPG brand, and then COVID happened and farmers markets slowed down.


Then it became, how can we get funding? We went through no, no, no, no, no, no, no, bank to bank to bank to bank—rejection, rejection, rejection. Banks don’t want to lend you money when you need it. Even SBA guarantees and things typically only make banks want to lend for loans that were already okay. It makes it even better, not loans. So it was very challenging to finally get funding closed.


It took us two years to get funding, and then we commercialized our business in Atlanta. We have a co-packer online. We’re fully scaled and commercialized. Now, fast-forward to 2026, and this product line is essentially getting launched in the marketplace in a major way.


What separates you from your competition?

We’re producing our fully baked, grain-free bread rolls, originally inspired by Brazilian-style pão de queijo.


There is a similar brand in the marketplace that’s been around for a long time and was even on Shark Tank, Brazi Bites. A lot of people will ask, “What sets you apart from Brazi Bites? How are you different?”


What we’ve done is innovate this street food. We’ve been producing this product line for almost a decade now. We fully bake it, so it’s not a raw dough product. That alone puts it in an almost separate field. It’s almost a different product. It’s not raw dough like the similar brand I mentioned or other raw dough brands.


It’s fully baked and air-fryer ready in minutes. Right off the get-go, that’s the biggest differentiator. That, and we have vegan, dairy-free SKUs. Papa Mountain is the only brand in the category with this kind of product line that has vegan, dairy-free options.


Then I can go into the quality and all the details. Yes, we fresh-grate 40-pound blocks of aged, grass-fed, organic cheddar and Parmesan. Literally, we fresh-grate that ourselves in the plant during production. We’ve been no-seed-oil since 2017.


So, you know, convenience, clean label, and the fact that we’re Non-GMO Project Verified—these credentials set us apart and differentiate us from our competitors.


What have been the biggest challenges?

There’s a saying, “Entrepreneurs don’t fail when they run out of money. They fail when they run out of energy.” I think that’s true, too. It’s hard to get funding, right?


I almost went bankrupt trying to get an SBA loan done. It took us two years to get that deal done. By the grace of God, we got that deal done, just through sheer resilience, maybe some luck, and extreme perseverance.


Funding is definitely one of the biggest obstacles. How do you fund this? You’re going into retail. You’re not seeing ROI at first. Things are inefficient. Everyone’s story is different.


I love those brands that are just—I don’t want to say unicorns or everything—but they just seem like everything is amazing. Like, “Wow, you guys are profitable from the get-go in CPG and retail. That’s amazing. Let me get some of that.”


Your story might not look like someone else’s. I’m 10 years from Ziploc bags. Going on 10 years is April. So it’s that trajectory, and when we’re finally hitting breaking points, it’s different.


We’ve had three awards this year: an NEXT win at Expo West, a Flavor of Georgia win in our home state—the overall Flavor of Georgia winner—and, most recently, the Kroger Hy-Vee Emerging Brand Winner at the Changing the Narrative Conference.


So now it’s like, wow. You’re hitting walls, and you’re not winning, and you feel like you’re not winning year to year to year, and then, bam, three awards in a row.


And why? Well, of course, maybe you got better packaging. Maybe you focused your branding better. You developed your product line better. But now you’re starting to see market fit.


We’ve just stayed consistent and kept showing up. And that takes money. And that takes trial and error. Man, patience for sure.


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Goals for upcoming year + Next phase of the company?

We’re finding market fit. Papa Mountain’s done multiple—we’ve probably done upwards of four to five pack changes over the course of the decade, and really, we’re averaging one pack change a year in the last couple of years.


We have another pack change coming. We’re not essentially rebranding, but we’re continuing to simplify and find market fit.


Maybe if we paid $80,000 or $100,000 to some marketing agency, they would have had it like that from the get-go, or maybe not. Who knows? I have an amazing marketing intern girl who’s basically like an employee that I’ve used since I started my business, and we’ve done our own branding.


We’re opening distribution this year. We’re launching in Hy-Vee this year. We just launched in All Moms Organic. We just landed Central Market, Tops, and Market of Choice. We’re rolling out in some select ShopRites and Village Supermarkets, and maybe we have some club shows in the works—maybe or maybe not. I can’t confirm or deny, but maybe we have some kind of something, like a road trip.


We’re really trying to focus in on retail-level execution. That is our goal this year, because you land some accounts, but you don’t realize that, hey, it doesn’t even matter if you’re paying a brokerage. You actually need retail-level execution.


That product isn’t going to move sitting in that UNFI DC for Wakefern without a retail-level service team. And it’s like, well, what is my brokerage? Well, your brokerage doesn’t offer that. So you’re learning. Same with Hy-Vee.


So we’re learning how to execute and put those services in place, move the product where we have it now, and we want to focus on some strategic plays, like what I’ve mentioned—maybe in the club channel.


What were your concerns to transition to starting your own business?

I made a LinkedIn post that got some great traction several weeks ago. I had this story. It was a true story. I had this senior UNFI executive come up to me at Expo West, my second time at Expo West.


He looked at me straight in my soul, through my eyes, and asked me, “Why do you do what you do?”


I was like, “Oh, we’re better for you, and I’m passionate about it.” Okay, everyone is. Maybe, sure, yeah, that’s a part of the equation here. But I do what I do, and I’ve done what I’ve done, and I’ve stayed in this game as long as I have.


No, it’s not a hobby. All these people on LinkedIn, they’re like, “If you’ve been doing this 10 years, and you’re not even positive, and this, and this, and that, it’s just a hobby.”


Shut up. No, it’s not. Have you done this? No. I do what I do because I refuse to quit, and I’m a hustler.


You’re a hustler. You start setting up at farmers markets, you’re hustling. You learn how to hustle. Yes, immediate market feedback, immediate sales and cash. And that’s essential. Arguably, I should still be doing farmers markets right now, but I stopped after COVID, and it wasn’t yielding enough.


But I would say, why have I done what I’ve done and how I’ve started this? It’s because I’ve refused to quit.


I wanted to work for myself. And the fact that I’m a single dad of three kids has been extreme motivation to prove everybody wrong. You know, the people that don’t believe in you this whole time, even till today, there are people who don’t believe in it. They’re like, “Have you thought about selling this to a bigger bakery company? Have you thought about this?”


And I’m like, “Well, no. You told me to do that three years ago, and I’m glad I didn’t listen to you.”


I made it this far. You know what? Let’s see what the next three years hold.

What have you learned since becoming an entrepreneur?

I’m a startup, right? I’m a startup with one marketing person, one fractional head of sales, and a brokerage. And then there’s me.


Yes, there’s not work-life balance. You’re going to have to find grace with that. You have to have a connection with God Almighty and find grace with it because you’re doing everything.


And it’s a blur. But what’s important is learning how to delegate. You’re doing everything, and you need to learn how to trust, build systems, and build teams.


I’m still going on a 10-year mark, but I’m still early on with that and with where we are in building a team. I’m team-growth trajectory of being able to have a full team and systems in place that can really operate without me being on every facet every day.


What aspect of entrepreneurship do you appreciate the most?

It’s a transformative journey. It truly touches every layer of your life. And if you don’t think it will, it’s not for you.


It will affect every layer of your life. I mean, yes, there is freedom and flexibility in your schedule to a certain extent. But, on one hand, you’re going to be working more than you ever would, you know, than any salary or nine-to-five, depending.


So, yeah, I mean, obviously, I appreciate the freedom to develop a product and work for my customers and build something that’s mine, that I’ve given birth and breath to, and getting from the toddler-to-diaper stage, et cetera, to crawling to walking.


So, yeah, I mean, I’m grateful for the opportunity that I’ve had of creating this company, that I’ve made it this far with an idea, with just putting one foot in front of the other here.


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Share a decision that you made that was detrimental?

When you’re starting out, you don’t have as much of a team, and it’s hard to know who to take advice from.


There are a lot of people out here preaching no approach to this and no approach to that, and maybe they’ve worked in CPG and sales positions or in some capacities in that context. But a lot of times, they’ve never had founder or owner-operator experience in that sense, nor do they have skin in your game.


So you’re paying them up front, you know, versus—and so it’s just to be cautious, to be careful. You don’t have to listen to everybody. You don’t have to listen to everybody.


Try and just trust your judgment and your gut and do your best to find people who might have better advice and more experience to advise you. But learn how to filter through that noise.

Do you have a moment that brings you the most joy?

Definitely, the highs have been this year, a lot with these awards. You know, just like, wow.


It’s been great being—having an NXT award, and then we won Best in Baked Goods and Overall Grand Prize Winner at Flavor of Georgia, and then we were an Emerging Brand Winner.


So it’s always like a pinch-yourself moment. Like, it’s pretty cool, you know?

Piece of Advice

Motivation and passion, which I’m sure is expressed in my answers and in my speech here.


You’ve got to embrace your journey and your story every day and find that purpose in it. Because what is going to keep you going genuinely and authentically, like the Energizer Bunny? What is that fuel and that tank or secret sauce for you that people are going to be magnetized and motivated, inspired to work with you, or invest in you, or believe in this vision?


A positive mindset, you know, positivity—it truly is everything, and cultivating a daily practice for gratitude.


Personally, I write down every day, and I’ve done it for years, 10 things I’m grateful for. And I have daily affirmations I say.


And it’s like, it compounds. I wish I had money in the bank compounding like this. Your life will change. Your life can change by doing something even as small as that—reminding yourself what you’re grateful for, writing it down every day, five things, 10 things.


Challenge it. Do it every day for a year, two years, and watch how your life changes.


My biggest advice to any entrepreneur doing this and climbing their mountain is that positivity. Have a connection to God, however that looks for you. And hit the gym.

Community Callout

William Mullally with Community Lending Partners He is an expert with USDA and SBA funding, and Bill helped us get our original SBA loan done. We did a $2 million loan in 2024 as a startup with Bill.


He’s truly someone who cares about entrepreneurs. And more importantly, he’s actually passionate—passionate, very passionate—about the American dream and creating jobs and prosperity.


And so he’s an incredible guy to work with. Highly recommend him.

In Closing

KLS wants to thank Papa Mountain and Founder, Solomon Cohen, for today's "Together Talks" feature. Follow along for their journey with their social handles below!

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