Nutcase began with a chocolate cashew milk that Jo Weinand made at home during the COVID lockdowns in Canada. She was trying to recreate the chocolate milk she remembered from childhood without dairy or refined sugar, eventually settling on a mix of cashews, cocoa powder, dates and water.
Weinand already had a place to see whether anyone else wanted it. She owned Wolf Down, a German döner restaurant in Ottawa. She bottled some of the milk, added simple Nutcase labels and put it in the restaurant’s drink cooler. The first batches sold quickly, and she kept making more. Other restaurant owners began asking where they could buy it. Wolf Down eventually sold hundreds of bottles a month.
Turning the restaurant drink into a packaged product was harder. The fresh version lasted only about a week, which made it poorly suited to wider distribution. Weinand spent about a year looking for a manufacturer that could help her produce a shelf-stable version and struggled to find one willing to take on the project.
A trip to Las Vegas gave the business another route forward. Weinand had spent years playing poker and had built friendships in that world. While talking about Nutcase over brunch, she learned that friends of hers had started a fund that invested in consumer brands. They put $500,000 into the business at a $5 million valuation cap even though Weinand did not yet have a finished commercial product.
The investment also brought Weinand connections that helped solve the manufacturing problem. One of the investors introduced her to Griffin Spolansky, co-founder of snack company Mezcla, who connected her with people experienced in food production. They helped Nutcase find a formulator and manufacturer and turn Weinand’s fresh restaurant recipe into a product that could be shipped and sold without refrigeration.
Getting there required several changes to the recipe. Early attempts to extend its shelf life altered the flavor, and later production tests brought other problems, including an acidic taste in one batch. Weinand and the product team adjusted the formula through several rounds of testing before committing to a full production run of about 33,000 cans.
Poker also led Weinand to professional player Phil Hellmuth. Hellmuth tried Nutcase and invested, then suggested that she send it to Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. Blevins had built one of the largest audiences in online gaming through years of streaming games such as Fortnite. He tried the milk and wanted to get involved. Weinand brought him into Nutcase as a co-founder rather than simply using him as a paid promoter. Blevins gave the young brand access to an audience far beyond Weinand’s restaurant and food-business contacts. He had about 19 million Twitch followers and 23 million YouTube subscribers by 2024.
Nutcase launched with its shelf-stable chocolate cashew milk and later added strawberry and vanilla varieties. DJ and producer Steve Aoki became involved after Weinand sent him samples. He preferred the strawberry version and became another public face for the brand.
The first commercial push centered on online sales. Nutcase sold through its own store and TikTok Shop while working with creators to put the drinks in front of their audiences. The business later expanded beyond ready-to-drink milk with powdered versions of its three flavors.
Nutcase also had to revise the product after its initial launch. Weinand said repeat purchases were not where the team wanted them to be, and the business paused to reformulate the drinks before pushing further into distribution.
Retail became a larger part of the business in 2026. Nutcase entered Whole Foods stores in California, Arizona and Nevada while continuing to sell online. Its store list now includes locations throughout those three states.
