He maintained the company is working on growing the brand to account for at least 25% of its total revenue within the next three to five years.
Lehi Valley is a 35-year-old family-owned business that began as a citrus company in the state of Arizona, which has evolved into a national wholesaler and manufacturer of premium snack foods.
In addition to Snackworthy, Lehi Valley owns High Valley Orchard, Arizona Snack Company, and Shell N’ All.
Brand extension to be unveiled in Chicago
Lehi Valley is adding a new puffs line – Simply Puffs – to it's 'better-for-you' Snackworthy brand, to be launched at the Sweets & Snacks Expo next week in Chicago, US.
“Every single component of the Snackworthy brand - including the name, packaging, value proposition and advertising - has undergone a number of different types of consumer research.”
“As a smaller company compared to Nestlé and Mondelez, we certainly don’t have the resources, but we do have some Fortune 500 talent in our business. For example, our head of marketing and product development grew up in brand management, learning [her skills] at Kellogg and then at Tropicana. We’ve had other people with similar backgrounds and applied it to a small environment that is very entrepreneurial.”
Double-digit growth
Lehi Valley has been experiencing double-digit growth year on year so far, according to Kaufman.
It reported a record year last year in terms of sales, and hopes to continue the momentum into 2017. It has recently achieved the SQF (Safe Quality Food) level 2, “a gold standard of food safety,” Kaufman said.
“Our strategy this year, in a nutshell, is to continue to diversify and grow as we become more efficient,” said Kaufman.