Fig Food Co. Partners with Advantage Sales & Marketing
New York, NY (June 17, 2015)
Fig Food Company, LLC (FFC) announced today a new broker agreement with Advantage Sales & Marketing LLC (ASM), the world’s leading retail solutions company, to drive distribution and sales of FFC’s line of organic, plant-based soups and beans. Joel Henry, FFC Founder, expects the partnership with ASM will make Fig Food a $4.5 million brand by year-end, expanding FFC from approximately 550 outlets today to 1,400. ASM will represent FFC across all products and channels in the United States.
“ASM has the market intelligence, technology, relationships, scale and leadership to drive sales in the center of the store.” Henry notes that he worked with Mike Salzberg, ASM’s President and COO, at the Campbell Soup Company, where Henry was VP-Brand Management. “The center of the store represents substantive real estate and profit for retailers,” adds Henry, “and needs companies like FFC that create the innovation and excitement necessary for growth.”
Fig Food Co.
Henry launched FFC, a $1+ million brand at Whole Foods, with an eye toward helping retailers jump-start grocery sales by offering healthy, shelf-stable options. FFC introduced its current line of organic, kosher, 100% plant-based soups and beans in pouches in the Fall of 2013, bringing the packaging innovation, convenience, and interesting flavors required for center store impact.
FFC was the first to enter the organic soup and bean categories with pouches. Sandstrom Partners created the award-winning Fig Food design, and the soup pouches are microwavable. Inside the pouch, FFC focuses on quality, using organic, North American-grown ingredients, and avoiding flavor enhancers, powdered vegetables and high levels of added salt and sugar.
“We cook our soups to bring the most flavor to each spoonful,” says Henry. “We use real garlic and onion, not garlic and onion powder; authentic herbs, like epazote in the Yucatan Black Bean; and even leave the peels on the Yukon Gold potatoes.”
Future Expansion
Distribution
After 20 months in the marketplace, Henry believes FFC is ready for the next step-up in distribution. “We have taken this time to improve our products, solidify our supply chain and refine our retail promotions. The selection of ASM builds upon this foundation to bring FFC to more stores and more people.” He projects Fig Food will be in almost 5,000 stores by 2017.
New Products
Henry comments that Fig Food would continue to look within the center of the store for future expansion. He sees a need for healthy, plant-based foods across many grocery categories and eating occasions, calling Fig Food a “horizontal play” in the food start-up world, in contrast to the more common vertical category plays. Together with distribution growth, he expects Fig Food will be a $20 million brand by early 2018.
Funding – Open to Accredited Investors on CircleUp.com
Henry calls this the final piece to the puzzle, and one where he hopes to engage others. “Fig Food has the credentials, the technological capability and the passion to bring healthy, delicious, plant-based food throughout the store. With ASM on-board, we have the capability to make our food broadly available, critical to our mission to improve the health of people and planet. Now we need the money necessary to secure this growth.”
Henry hopes FFC’s compelling business case and social impact will motivate accredited investors to participate in Fig Food’s current equity offering. Now available on CircleUp (https://circleup.com/c/fig-food), a curated investment platform for high-growth, consumer-focused companies, FFC looks to close this round of fundraising on July 3rd.
About Fig Food Company, LLC
Based in New York City and Greenville, SC, Fig Food Company, LLC manufactures soups, beans and vegetables from the finest organic, North American ingredients available. All Fig Food is 100% plant-based, certified organic and kosher. FFC’s portfolio consists of 10 ready-to-eat varieties (Tuscan White Bean, Umbrian Lentil, Yucatan Black Bean, Gran Farro e Fagioli, Creamy Mushroom, Wondrous Tomato, Nonna’s Minestrone, Split Pea & Potato, Mexican Bean & Rice and Chickpea, Tomato & Thyme), 7 bean varieties (Black, Chickpeas, Pinto, Dark Red Kidney, Navy, Small Red, Cannellini) and pumpkin puree for the holidays. FFC was named a Vegetarian Times‘ Foodie Award Finalist, a NEXT Accelerator Pitch-Slam Finalist, a “Top Ten Processed Foods” by Cooking Light, and won 2 Clean Choice awards from Clean Eating. FFC is a certified B-Corp, committed to rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. Additional information can be found at http://figfood.com/.
About Joel R. Henry
Joel Henry, Founder and General Manager, has 25 years in the Food and Beverage industry, including the Campbell Soup Company, where he helped lead the turnaround in both senior operating and strategic roles. Henry spent 12 years at Kraft Foods, Warner-Lambert and Diageo in operational and strategic leadership positions, and grew such notable brands as Trident®, Crystal Light®, Country Time®, and Tequila Don Julio®. Henry earned his AB from Cornell University and his MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School. He is an avid outdoorsman, and lives in New York City.
