DropOut Companies, a CPG company creating food brands, announced Stephen Ellsworth, co-founder of Poppi, as operating partner.

In this role, Ellsworth will provide strategic support across DropOut’s growing portfolio, leveraging his expertise in brand building, product innovation, and strategic scaling to support Dropout’s mission of reimagining childhood classics for today's families. 

“Stephen brings a rare combination of operational rigor and culturally relevant brand building,” says Connor Blakley, founder of DropOut Companies. “He and Allison established Poppi as the soda the next generation will grow up with. Bringing that level of category transformation to DropOut opens up extraordinary potential across our brands.”

Ellsworth is widely recognized for helping transform Poppi, alongside his wife, from a homemade apple cider vinegar refresher into one of the fastest-growing beverage brands in the U.S. After gaining early traction at local farmers’ markets, Poppi surged in national awareness following its viral Shark Tank appearance in 2019. The brand passed $100 million in annual sales by 2023 and, in 2025, secured a strategic distribution partnership with PepsiCo valued at approximately $2 billion. Poppi is credited with reshaping the modern soda category through its focus on gut health, low sugar, and clean ingredients.

“DropOut is doing what Big Food should’ve done decades ago,” says Ellsworth. “Connor is culture obsessed and has a great pulse on what consumers want. Dropout’s taking the foods we know and love and rebuilding them with better ingredients. It’s the same playbook that made Poppi explode, and I’m excited to bring that energy to every category we touch.”

Ellsworth joins DropOut at a moment of rapid momentum for the company. Its first major launch, Jams PB&J, hit both Walmart and Target nationwide in its first four months. DropOut has multiple category-shifting brands preparing for national rollout before the end of 2025, and in 2026 as it continues rebuilding childhood classics big food left untouched.

“Stephen’s track record speaks for itself. Having him in our corner accelerates everything we’re building at DropOut. We’re reinventing the foods people grew up with, and his experience scaling category-defining brands gives us an edge as we bring modern classics to millions of households,” says Dropout Companies Co-founder Josh Franko.

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