Edison, New Jersey (May 28, 2015) – MetaBrand, a Certified B Corp. and leading Quadruple Bottom Line company, is expanding its suite of services for natural and organic food and beverage entrepreneurs into the Canadian and other international markets with a new division, MetaBrand International, debuting at this summer’s BEVNet Live, June 2-3, in New York, and led by 21 year consumer products veteran Michael Lines.
MetaBrand, established in 2011 by natural products industry veteran and Steaz co-founder Eric Schnell, is a rapidly growing, concept-to-market firm providing product formulation, outsourced operations, capitalization, sales, marketing and advisory services to natural/organic food and beverage startups and emerging regional and national brands. Based in Edison, NJ, it has primarily focused on the US market.
“We have received numerous requests along with opportunities to expand our services into markets including Canada that are showing strong demand for natural, organic, nutritional and other healthy lifestyle products,” said Schnell, who serves as CEO of MetaBrand. “With the launch of MetaBrand International, we can now work with entrepreneurs and emerging brands to co-create across a world of natural and organic products, seamlessly!”
Canada Showing Double-digit Growth in Healthy Lifestyles
Sales of natural and organic food and beverages enjoyed strong, consistent growth over the past five years in Canada, maintaining a compounded annual growth rate of 9.4% between 2009 and 2013, and reaching sales of US$5.26 billion, reportedPackaged Facts in November 2014. Natural and organic food and beverage sales in Canada are expected to increase at a higher compounded annual growth rate of more than 11% over the next five years, the report said, adding that “Millennials and South Asian and Chinese [ethnic] groups [are] helping to spur growth.” Additionally, Motley Fool reported in January 2015 that Whole Foods Market is planning to expand in Canada from 10 stores to 40, helping to spur growth of natural, organic and nutritional product sales.
Leading the MetaBrand International division is Managing Partner Michael Lines. Based in Toronto, Lines is a seasoned natural products entrepreneur, brand manager, product development and global sales and marketing specialist in the Canadian mainstream, specialty and health food markets. As former VP of Global Sales & Marketing at Taste of Nature Foods in Toronto, Ontario, a leading natural and organic snack brand sold in over 50 countries, Michael helped double sales across multiple markets including Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and the US.
Following its “Six Pillars of Service” strategy, including Advisory, Capital, Formulations, Ingredients, Marketing, Operations, and bringing a veteran team seasoned in regulatory, sales, retail and distribution, MetaBrand International will assist in:
- US companies seeking to expand into the Canadian market
- Canadian companies seeking to enter the US market
- International companies seeking to enter the US and Canada, or seeking to expand from the US into Canada
- Helping US and Canadian companies enter other international markets
“We have built a highly knowledgeable and experienced team, including a complete operations, sales management, marketing services, and regulatory team deeply immersed in the Canadian and international markets, to help emerging and established brands build their footprint in the US, Canada and other countries,” said Lines, whose experience also includes retail, product development, operations, and sales and marketing positions with Loblaw, Cadbury Plc., Maple Leaf Foods, Nabisco and the Allan Candy Co.
MetaBrand at BEVNet Live Summer 2015, New York
MetaBrand is a Sponsor Partner of BEVNet Live Summer 2015, June 2-3 in New York, NY, the leading conference for beverage entrepreneurship and innovation. Members of the MetaBrand advisory team, including MetaBrand International, will be on hand to meet with companies and brands throughout the conference. For information visithttp://www.bevnet.com/events/bevnetlivesummer15. To schedule a meeting, contactinfo@metabrandcorp.com.
About MetaBrand – “Co-Creating a Better Future”™
Founded by natural products entrepreneur Eric Schnell, MetaBrand is a Certified B Corporation based in Edison, NJ, offering turnkey “R&D to retail” services for start-up and early-stage natural and organic food, beverage and supplement companies, including product formulation, outsourced operations, distribution, and sales and marketing. With a team of 44 advisors and long-standing industry relationships, MetaBrand helps companies quickly and efficiently develop winning formulations and build successful brands for natural product concepts that are on-trend and are efficacious, regulation compliant, and scalable. For more information:www.metabrandcorp.com, info@metabrandcorp.com.