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Golden ToungeFood & Beverage D2C · India
Full Store BuildF&B D2CSubscriptionsRetention

Launching a Premium F&B Brand Online — With the Infrastructure to Keep Customers Coming Back

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Golden Tounge needed more than a Shopify store. Food D2C has unique requirements: perishables, subscriptions, repeat purchase mechanics, and a story that makes food feel worth buying online.

+52%
Repeat purchase rate
38%
Orders via subscription
4.1x
LTV vs CAC ratio
2 wks
Launch timeline
Overview

Golden Tounge produces premium artisanal food products — condiments, spice blends, and specialty sauces. The kind of product people discover once, love, and want to reorder. The challenge with food D2C is that the first purchase is expensive (high CAC, perishable shipping costs), but the second and third purchases are almost pure profit. The entire business model depends on getting the first purchase right and making reordering effortless. That was the brief.

The problem

What was broken and why it mattered.

01

No Shopify store — complete build from scratch

Golden Tounge was selling through Instagram DMs and WhatsApp. No Shopify, no checkout, no automated fulfilment. Every order was a manual conversation. They were leaving money on the table every day without a proper storefront.

02

Food products need a different checkout experience

Perishables require clear delivery date selection, shipping temperature context, and expectations about freshness. A generic Shopify checkout does not communicate any of this — leading to orders placed without understanding the product's requirements.

03

No repeat purchase mechanism for a reorder-dependent business

The brand's economics only work if customers reorder. There was no subscription option, no reorder reminder, no loyalty incentive. Every customer who bought once was treated the same as a first-time visitor.

04

The brand story wasn't being told

Artisanal food sells on story — the process, the sourcing, the maker. Selling on Instagram DMs communicated none of this. The storefront needed to make the brand feel premium and trustworthy before asking for a first purchase.

The work

The full scope of what we built.

🏗

Custom F&B Shopify store design and build

Designed a store architecture suited to food D2C — story-first homepage, product pages with ingredient sourcing, process photography, and taste profile descriptions. Warm, premium visual design that makes food feel worth buying online.

📅

Delivery date selection at checkout

Built a custom delivery date picker integrated into Shopify checkout. Customers select their preferred delivery date during purchase. Backend automation batches fulfilment by date. No perishables sent without a confirmed date.

🔄

Subscription setup via Recharge

Integrated Recharge Subscriptions — customers can subscribe to their favourite products at 10% off. Subscribe-and-save option displayed prominently on every product page. 38% of all orders are now subscriptions, generating predictable recurring revenue.

📧

Retention flows for reorder-driven economics

Built a Klaviyo retention architecture: post-purchase recipe suggestion sequence (uses the product in new ways, drives perceived value), reorder reminder at 80% of product lifespan, loyalty milestone emails (5th order, 10th order).

🎁

Gift and bundle builder

Built a custom gift bundle builder — customers create their own gift sets from the product range. Launched for Diwali, generated 28% of monthly revenue in one week. Now a permanent feature for gifting occasions.

⭐

Review and recipe UGC system

Set up a review collection flow that asks specifically for recipe ideas and serving suggestions, not just ratings. Product pages now feature customer recipes alongside standard reviews — converting browsers into buyers with social proof.

The sequence

How we got there.

The sequence of work, week by week.

1
Week 1
Store build and product architecture
Shopify store designed, built, and populated with products. Subscription integration and delivery date picker configured.
2
Week 2
Retention infrastructure and launch
Klaviyo flows built. Gift builder launched. Tracking validated. Store went live with full marketing campaign.
3
Month 2–3
Optimisation and scaling
A/B tested subscription placement, optimised reorder timing in Klaviyo, launched Meta ads for cold acquisition.
The outcome

The numbers that moved.

+52%
Repeat purchase rate

From near zero to 52% of customers placing a second order. Driven by the retention flow and subscription model.

38%
Orders on subscription

38% of monthly orders are now subscription-based, providing predictable recurring revenue.

4.1x
LTV:CAC ratio

The economics now work: customers acquired at 400 CAC generate 1,640 in LTV over 12 months.

2 weeks
Launch to live

Complete build and launch in 2 weeks, in time for the brand's planned launch campaign.

Questions

About this case study.

Is this result typical, or is it an outlier?

We only publish case studies where we can show real, verifiable metrics tied to Shopify data — but every brand's starting point is different. Golden Tounge's results reflect what was possible given their specific gaps; your results will depend on where your store, tracking, and funnel currently stand.

How long did an engagement like this take?

Timelines vary by scope, but most engagements follow the same pattern: a diagnostic phase in week one, then delivery in two-week sprints. See the sequence above for how this specific engagement was paced.

Can you get similar results for my brand?

We won't promise a specific number without seeing your data first. What we can promise: a diagnostic that tells you honestly whether the same class of fix applies to your store.

What if my brand is in a different industry?

The underlying levers — tracking accuracy, checkout friction, funnel structure — are largely industry-agnostic. See our industry pages for category-specific context.

Services used
Shopify Store BuildRecharge SubscriptionsKlaviyo EmailPerformance MarketingCustom Development
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