Photos by Ella Manthey
A baby’s first outfit. A handwritten birthday card. The tiny shoes a child wore before they could walk. Lindsay Mullenger saw a business opportunity in the keepsakes families struggle to store and built Petite Keep.
The St. Louis-based company has turned a personal need into a nationally recognized consumer brand, with its growth offering a tangible example of how entrepreneurship can translate into local jobs, expanded operations, and economic activity rooted in the region.
Launched in 2020, Petite Keep has grown from a nascent startup into a business serving customers nationwide with beautiful, personalized trunks for childhood mementos, wedding keepsakes, college milestones, special memories, and family legacies. As demand increased, Mullenger made a strategic investment in the company’s St. Louis operations.
In January 2025, Mullenger pitched the business to ABC’s Shark Tank, securing a $400,000 deal with investors Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, and Jamie Kern Lima in exchange for a 15% stake. Petite Keep has also earned a place on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies in both 2025 and 2026, underscoring its momentum as it expands its national reach.
Petite Keep opened its first facility in April 2025, bringing fulfillment in-house and building a local workforce of artisans responsible for assembling and personalizing its products. The shift brought more of the company’s production process under its own roof while creating opportunities for local workers as the business scaled.
Petite Keep’s evolution underscores the economic potential of homegrown companies that can compete in national markets while investing in the St. Louis region. Its story also highlights the resources behind that growth: access to talent, a central location that supports distribution, and a business community that can help entrepreneurs build beyond their startup years.
We recently caught up with Mullenger at her St. Louis offices about scaling a consumer brand, growing a local workforce, and what it takes to build a nationally competitive business right here in St. Louis.
What inspired you to launch Petite Keep?
I was kneeling on the floor of my oldest daughter’s nursery, organizing things while pregnant with my second daughter, and I couldn’t find anything that felt special enough to tuck away her keepsakes in. I asked friends across the country, searched online, and couldn’t find a solution that met what I was looking for.
I had spent so much time designing the nursery, and I wanted something that was beautiful enough to display as decor but also personalized. That was the impetus for Petite Keep: It started with a personal need.
How has the business evolved since launching in 2020?
The real blessing of building Petite Keep has been doing it in lockstep with our customers. One of our core values is “customer obsessed, always,” and we’ve been intentional about keeping our customers’ voices at the table from day one.
We started with a Shopify website and an Instagram account. Within the first month, customers were asking if we made trunks for brides. We found a way to make that happen, and we continued expanding into collegiate, Greek, and grandmother trunks as customers showed us what they wanted.
We’ve grown by listening to our customers, responding to their needs, and building a relationship with them. As a direct-to-consumer business, we have that connection, and it’s something we don’t take for granted.
Petite Keep earned a spot on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies in both 2025 and 2026. What has driven that growth?
There wasn’t one defining moment that made Petite Keep grow. I would say the biggest reason has been consistency and the daily reps. Our entire team does things every single day that have built us into what we are today.
It comes back to staying focused on our core values, with customer obsession leading the way. We focus on making the best keepsake trunk there is and keeping our customers top of mind. That’s how we’ve been able to resonate with customers and achieve the growth that got us on that list.
What has been the biggest learning curve as you’ve scaled from a startup into a growing national brand?
My role as founder and CEO has completely changed over the past 18 months. I think every day about what I can do to serve my team and our customers better.
The most important thing is the people: the people on my team and the people we serve. I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can do the best possible job for our teammates while delivering the best possible experience for our customers.
How has being based in St. Louis shaped Petite Keep’s growth?
St. Louis is a global city with a small-town feel. For someone building a business, that’s a huge asset. I have global resources at my fingertips, but I also have that small-town feel to help me navigate the journey. That’s something St. Louis does better than anywhere else I’ve lived.
We’re also in the middle of the country, which is a practical advantage when it comes to shipping products to customers across the country. Our location helps us think about shipping rates and logistics differently than companies that operate distribution centers on both coasts.
And there’s something about the work ethic of the Midwest: We value being hardworking and ethical, and those qualities matter when you’re building a team and a business around shared core values.
You’ve also talked about the way St. Louis rallies around its own. How has that community support affected your entrepreneurial journey?
There’s no denying the way St. Louis rallies around another St. Louis person, business, or concept: It’s such a unique and special kind of magic.
I’m grateful to have St. Louis in my DNA and to be able to build my sixth child here. The belief and support you feel from this community are incredibly special.
Petite Keep has invested in bringing its production in-house. Why was it important to keep that process local?
In our first year, I built every single trunk myself. My husband and my parents helped with the shipping department, and we were doing everything out of our attic. Every trunk had my eyes on it.
There’s something special about knowing our team is building this business here. We’re scaling something that doesn’t always feel scalable because every personalized trunk is unique. We have to maintain that oversight and attention to detail.
Building the operation has been a learning experience. We’ve worked to create a flexible, cross-trained team that can support different parts of the process. We’re creating these one-of-a-kind moments for people, so different parts of the operation need to grow at different rates.
We’re constantly learning and iterating. We may take a couple of steps back sometimes, but as long as we’re taking a couple of steps forward, we’re moving in the right direction.
Keeping production here also allows us to show customers the process behind their products. That hand-assembled, artisan approach is interwoven into who we are as a brand.
What has that growth meant for local jobs and the regional economy?
We have more than 55 full-time employees, along with many temporary (artisan) employees who have opportunities to transition into full-time positions as they reach the required hours.
We’re mindful of scaling our workforce alongside revenue because many of these are artisan jobs involving a hand-assembled process. We’ve also worked with local talent acquisition companies to better understand the skills our business needs and build a hiring process that works for everyone.
It’s exciting to grow the team while maintaining the quality and personal attention that make our products special.
As the business has grown, how do you balance scaling production with maintaining the personalized experience customers expect?
It comes back to our customer and our core values. We’re very intentional about the details, and we have built processes that allow us to grow without losing what makes Petite Keep special.
Because each trunk is personalized, we can’t approach every part of the business as if we’re making the same product over and over. We need a team that can adapt, support one another, and maintain oversight throughout the process.
We’re still learning every day. We want to keep improving how we operate while making sure the customer remains at the center of every decision.
What does it mean to know that Petite Keep is part of some of the most meaningful moments in your customers’ lives?
It gives me chills to think about it. We get to be part of some of the highest moments in our customers’ lives. They’re getting married, having babies, graduating from college, or celebrating a grandmother.
They come to Petite Keep for something that ultimately becomes a keepsake itself. Our brand isn’t built on things; it’s built on the stories, feelings, and emotions those things hold.
I think about getting to build a generational brand that becomes connected to these incredible moments in people’s lives… It’s a pinch-me opportunity, and I’m incredibly grateful that I get to do it.
