Our Story — TracedTable

It started with a question most people ignore: what's actually in our food? Not the nutrition label — the real answer. Who raised this animal? Who grew this tomato? What did the process actually look like between the farm and the package on a shelf?

Cole Brown and Alex Lundebrek met playing football at Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Both studied accounting. Both worked through college. They became close friends and eventually started talking about what they wanted to build after graduation.

Alex spent 2.5 years working dawn to dusk at a family dairy farm in St. Michael, Minnesota — feeding and milking 200+ head of cattle every single morning and afternoon. He saw firsthand how much care local farmers put into their work, and how little of that story ever reaches the family dinner table.

Cole's path went a different direction. With a magna cum laude accounting degree and experience building partnerships with youth sports organizations across Minnesota, he developed a knack for connecting people and building systems that work. Five months volunteering in Nairobi, Kenya changed everything — he taught math to a class of 40 kids, raised $26,000 for a youth-designed basketball court, and helped facilitate art sales for young artists from Nairobi's informal settlements, bringing their work to buyers in the United States.

That's also where he met Yusuf Mirumbe, a Kenyan artist whose work stopped him in his tracks. With zero connections in the art world, Cole volunteered to help — organizing international shipping, getting Yusuf's paintings in front of the right people, and figuring it out as he went. Today Yusuf's work hangs in Art Rocks Gallery in Excelsior and Plot Gallery in Minneapolis, with a show on the horizon. Cole still serves as his volunteer art manager. Building things that matter for real people — that's always been the thread.

After Cole's three shoulder surgeries and Alex's knee surgery, both started paying serious attention to what they were putting in their bodies — especially after graduation. Protein sources. Recovery nutrition. Ingredient lists that read like chemistry exams. That rabbit hole led to a realization that hit hard: most families have absolutely no idea where their food comes from.

Not a general sense of "it comes from a farm somewhere." The specifics. Which farm? Who runs it? How do they treat their animals? When was this processed? What happened between the field and the Styrofoam tray under plastic wrap?

TracedTable exists to fix that. Every product has a QR code linking to the exact farm, the exact farmer, the exact processing date. No middlemen. No mystery. Just the truth about your food, accessible in two seconds with your phone.

This isn't a Silicon Valley play by people who've never set foot on a farm. Alex has been knee-deep in dairy operations since he was a teenager. Cole builds systems and partnerships that make complicated things simple. Both bring accounting backgrounds and real business experience to the table. Together, they're connecting Minnesota families directly to the farmers who grow their food — and making sure every step of that journey is visible.

TracedTable is based in Minneapolis-St. Paul, working exclusively with Minnesota farms. Because the best food doesn't need to travel far. It just needs to be honest about where it came from.

The Founders

Meet Cole & Alex

Cole Brown

Co-Founder

Cole handles the technology, operations, and customer experience behind TracedTable. A magna cum laude accounting graduate with a well-versed audit background and two years as a teaching assistant in Saint John's accounting department, he brings serious analytical depth to everything he builds.

He played college football for two years at Saint John's before retiring due to injury — but never left the program. He stayed on as a coach, running the offensive scout team and becoming the assistant quarterback coach, calling plays for JV. That transition from player to coach says a lot about how Cole operates: when the original plan changes, he finds another way to contribute. He taught math to a class of 40 kids in Nairobi, Kenya, mentored youth artists, and built partnerships with sports organizations across Minnesota. That blend of sharp numbers instincts and genuine warmth with people is what drives TracedTable's customer experience.

Saint John's University, B.A. Accounting — Magna Cum Laude
College football player — transitioned to Assistant QB Coach & Scout Team Coordinator
Well-versed audit background
Two-year teaching assistant, Accounting Department
Volunteer Art Manager for Kenyan artist Yusuf Mirumbe
Raised $26K for youth basketball court in Kenya

Alex Lundebrek

Co-Founder

Alex is the farmer connection. An accounting and economics graduate with deep professional audit experience, he brings the same financial discipline to TracedTable that he's applied across every role he's held. But the real credibility comes from the farm — 2.5 years of daily operations at a family dairy, feeding and milking 200+ cattle every morning and afternoon.

A former college football player, business owner, and someone who's worked with his hands his entire life, Alex pairs sharp analytical thinking with the kind of genuine, roll-up-your-sleeves credibility that farmers respect. When he shows up at a farm, he speaks their language because he's done their work.

Saint John's University, Accounting & Economics
Former college football player
Professional audit experience
2.5 years daily operations at a Minnesota family dairy farm
Business owner — contracting company in Otsego, MN
Hands-on experience across farming, construction, and operations

What We Believe

Our Values

These aren't corporate values printed on a wall somewhere. They're the actual rules we make decisions by.

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Transparency

If we can't show you exactly where your food came from, we won't sell it to you. Every product is traceable. Period.

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Community

We work with Minnesota farms, employ local people, and keep your food dollars in the community where they do the most good.

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Quality

Small farms, careful handling, short supply chains. The result is food that actually tastes like food. No shortcuts.

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Sustainability

Shorter supply chains mean less transportation, less packaging, and less waste. Good for your family and the planet.

Two Former College Athletes on a Mission for Food Transparency