When David Gray joined the board of directors of FedUp Foods, PBC in 2019, the company’s goal was already alive and well, but it operated, as he puts it, on a “subconscious” level.
When Gray becomes CEO in 2023, he will prioritize “developing a value proposition for workers as a component of that [goal], linking it to who we are as a company and why we do what we do. Then, on an individual level: why do I do what I do and how does it relate to our purpose?”for each of the several dozen FedUp team members.
“The quiet story of FedUp Foods,” says Gray, “is that we are the largest personal production platform focused on fermented beverages in North America. We manufacture nutrient-dense products with the purpose of bringing them to as many people as possible.
“So,” Gray says of the now-codified goal, it’s all about “making delicious, functional, high-quality beverages,” which in 2021 have become the fastest-growing market in the entire food industry. At the same time, FedUp’s project is to “invest in the regeneration of the planet and use our company as a vehicle for positive social impact,” he says.
These three interrelated reasons are “deeply rooted” in the company’s creation, Gray says. It was introduced through Sarah Mullins and Jeannine Buscher in 2008. The two men shared a hobby of making kombucha as a healthy drink for their young children.
According to Gray, “the founders’ own philosophy about business and how they need good fortune to be measured, as well as the identity of their stakeholders,” evolved along a three-pronged mantra: People-Planet-Prosperity, all derived from the concept of food.
Think of it this way, Gray says: Good paintings feed people’s spirit of personal growth. Prioritizing conscious suppliers, partners, and farmers (who grow, harvest, and practice in the most regenerative way possible) provides important food for the planet we share. . And because “good nutrition is a human right,” he concludes, FedUp provides important nutrition to the human body.
FedUp aims to lead a movement that extends beyond its own products and customers: “We will create a food formula that is more equitable, more accessible, and more inclusive,” he says.
That is why the company has organized itself and operates as a profit-making public company. For Gray, this prestige tells the world, “Look, the end result is important, but we also have a choice in what it looks like and how we use it. “our cash to create greater impact. “
“So,” he says, for example, “we wouldn’t be penalized because we made the decision to spend more cash in Brazil to buy regenerative sugar, which would have an effect on our COGS, because we’re doing it for the betterment of the local community. , bringing more regenerative sugar sustainability for manufacturers and their families, as well as for the earth.
It’s also why the company feels comfortable hosting an annual leadership summit, which brings together concept leaders from all stages of the origin chain. The idea is to think collaboratively about what a truly regenerative food product would look like, Gray said. says, and how it can be implemented, step by step. Spoiler: This looks like kombucha, and it’s implemented through strategy and operations in position or progression at FedUp and its partners.
I’m Not Fed Up Yet: Growth and Fermentation
The fact that FedUp is talking about Brazil’s regenerative sugar and bringing together scientists, consumer goods manufacturers, farmers, and policymakers on sustainability is a testament to the company’s remarkable expansion over the past fifteen years.
In 2010, Mullins (currently Executive Vice President of People,
In 2017, FedUp moved into a 30,000-square-foot facility in Marshall, North Carolina. The aim is to expand market access to more functional beverages (mainly other types of fermented beverages). This same era also marked his evolution into personal-branded kombucha. The company also supports co-packing and other traditional solutions, from ideation and testing to packaging, marketing and distribution. It even has an on-site lab to maximize innovation and ensure certification validity.
In 2018, executives introduced a production facility in South Korea and two years later officially founded FedUp Foods, PBC, with Buchi as a division.
Last year it tripled its production with a plant in Erwin, Tennessee.
Throughout this time, FedUp has upheld its founders’ principles of social welfare, environmental sustainability, and economic prosperity.
Gray on the table of current problems for doing business
After earning his MBA from Yale University’s School of Management, Gray first discovered himself in the fields of herbal foods, finance, business operations, and sustainability more than 30 years ago. “There was a time when many of the sustainability ‘rich’ didn’t measure tools yet; People didn’t tick the boxes. Instead, at that time, other people were saying, “Look, if you don’t have this, that’s fine. “
“But today, we see many of our consumers (in fact, I would say all of them) with many of their sustainability initiatives, placing FedUp’s supply chain, as well as our values, very much aligned with what they’re looking to achieve. ” says Gray.
“And then let’s turn a blind eye to the fact that we know consumers need it too, right?They’re making those planned decisions now.
“And that’s what makes us strong. “
Gray, trained through Sigma, looks at FedUp in the context of corporations like Patagonia, Clif or TOMS, “people who have made and have continued to reinvest in sustainability in order to continue advancing their mission. “
ESGK (The K’s in Kombucha)
The gray issues reflect significant effects of FedUp and its partners’ efforts toward regenerative and equitable agriculture. Let’s take your tea supplier, teatulia, as an example. Together, this collaboration has transformed an arid and overexploited region of northern Bangladesh into a rich and thriving ecosystem.
“We’re in a pretty bleak environmental situation,” Gray says. “Where the land just wasn’t there to [create] the kind of resources that would attract animals or vegetation. Now, in the last decade that we’ve been collaborating with those producers, we’re seeing a genuine transformation. We see trees growing back and big cats reintroducing themselves to the domain as they now have more resources to feed and live on.
At the same time, FedUp supports manufacturers “through a fair industry and the progress of the people through what we invest. “
Closer to home, the company is investing in the next generation of business leaders. The FedUp Foods Academy, a flagship initiative designed to identify and train Americans internally for leadership positions within the company, launched in 2023. She educates, empowers, and equips prospective leaders with the tools, exercise, and progression they desire and desire.
FedUp Foods: A Cup Half Full of Opportunity and Impact in the Blue Ocean
The Power of Private Label
Gray, one of Big Path Capital’s highest-impact 2024 CEOs, known for driving a positive social and environmental recovery through FedUp’s dynamic business.
Private labels have long been a reliable expansion across Europe, Gray says. “In fact, in Europe, if you go through a consumer’s shopping cart, more than a portion of the products they buy will be personal branded. Only in the U. S. The U. S. market is governed through brands.
“But what we’ve noticed over the last few decades is a transition toward further expansion of personal brands and a move away from all the ‘fast followers’ [knockoffs] and ‘dupes’ [generic versions] in this scenario that stores are in. in. in: “We have this huge investment in assets and people, in marketing infrastructure, how are we going to do it now?”
“So,” Gray says, “a lot of giant brick-and-mortar stores have discovered over the last decade that they’re wasting percentages on more effective personal brands like Trader Joe’s, Aldi, Costco. . . “
“And as a result, many of them have understood that if they don’t change, they will continue to lose. . . market share. ‘
This economic shift has forced forward-thinking companies to look for partners who can help them innovate, Gray says. “You see it at Kroger, you see it at Safeway, Albertsons, H-E-B. . . If you look at each retailer, you’ll see that they’re striving to develop their personal brand and take more control over their sales floor than ever before.
It’s in this shift to personal labels that FedUp Foods has discovered its niche, with kombucha. “It’s a high-end product,” he says, Gray. No it’s easy to make, it’s not reasonable to do. “But FedUp is committed to building relationships, growing and expanding its visitor base with availability in a wider diversity of stores.
With a new relationship with a store, Gray and his team are asking, “How can we leverage science, supply chain, and human capital [and catalyze all of that] in a way that allows us to help our customers, the retailers, grow their businesses?? Your investment thesis around expanding market share with your own brand?And at the same time better serve other people and the planet, which makes it possible.