Clif Brings on CEO; Miyoko’s and Snacklins Add Sales Execs

Clif Looks to New Leadership

Snack brand Clif Bar last week announced the hiring of Sally Grimes as its new CEO, effective June 1. Moving forward, Clif Bar founders, owners and current co-CEOs Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford will remain on the company’s board of directors.

Grimes most recently was the group president for prepared foods at Tyson Foods, where she was responsible for the division’s $10 billion in sales. In this role, she “drove record growth,” the company said in a release, and spearheaded initiatives that helped the company evolve beyond a focus on poultry. It’s this vision for growth that appealed to Erickson and Crawford.

“Growth has a broader meaning at Clif Bar. To us, it’s an opportunity to take care of people, be of service to our communities and help build a more equitable and sustainable food system,” Erickson said in a release. “Sally’s passion for what makes Clif unique will benefit our company culture and her track record for innovative thinking will help take us to the next level. We are thrilled to have Sally leading us forward.”

Founded roughly 30 years ago, Clif is family- and employee-owned and has three brands in its portfolio: CLIF, Clif Kid and LUNA. In a release, Crawford said the company’s mission and place has “become much bigger than the bar.”

This is not the first time Crawford and Erickson have stepped away from running the business. From 2004 to 2007 Sheryl O’Loughlin served as CEO and from 2013 to 2018 Kevin Cleary, formerly the company’s president and COO, was CEO. Both times, however, the co-founders decided to return to the helm.

Buckley Leaves Caveman for Alt-Cheese

Vegan cheese alternative Miyoko’s has hired Matt Buckley as SVP of sales. Buckley previously was the EVP of sales at Caveman Foods for four years, which he joined after serving in senior sales leadership roles at Mama Chia, Project 7, Evolution Fresh and Naked Juice.

Buckley will report directly to president Louis Kanganis, who joined Miyoko’s from fellow alt-dairy brand New Barn in February, and will oversee both retail sales as well as the company’s push into foodservice.

He joins the brand as it tries to shift from being an artisanal cheesemaker, with options that typically ring in at $9 to $10, to that of a mainstream provider. Earlier this spring the brand launched a line of shredded cheese and cheese slices at a price point of around $5 in Whole Foods Market. Buckley’s goal will be both to expand the brand’s presence beyond its current footprint of 15,000 stores, as well as to convince existing and new retailers to merchandise the new line alongside its dairy counterparts, rather than in a separate plant-based section.

“If we’re really going to make a difference, how do we go from the huge passionate loyal base of vegans and start to bring the omnivores over? And the way that you’re going to do that is that you have to make it mainstream,” Buckley said. “We’re really focusing on, how do you create the story with the retailer that when it’s in the dairy set you see a… lift versus when it’s in plant-based or produce sets.”

Miyoko’s, Buckley said, has seen triple digit sales growth for the last three years. Despite the Coronavirus pandemic, he added, the company still reported a record month for sales in April.

Covid-19 has slowed Miyoko’s goal of moving into foodservice, he said, but only slightly. The company had planned to focus on pizza restaurants specifically, launching a new liquid cheese product for foodservice that (reportedly) browns better than the competition’s shredded cheese options. Although pizza shops have largely remained open during the pandemic, owners aren’t yet ready for sales pitches, Buckley said.

“Pizza has done really well,” he said. “The challenge is that it’s hard to talk to anyone right now because everyone is just trying to figure out how to stay alive. So we’re still aggressively moving forward, things just got a little quiet.”

Babich Heads to New Snack Brand

In early May Rob Babich joined vegan snack food company Snacklins. Babich will serve in the newly created position of director of sales, reporting to CEO Kevin Blessy.

Babich has a track record of working with fast turning snack brands, having most recently served as director of sales for Sonoma Brand’s Smashmallow for roughly three years. Prior to that, Babich held regional sales leadership positions at HannahMax Cookie Chips, KRAVE jerky and Pirate’s Booty.

Snacklins, which produces a line of puffed chips made from yuca, is currently in 500 to 600 retailers, including two regions of Whole Foods Market and Stop and Shop. Babich said “from a personal growth and timing perspective” he was excited to join an emerging brand at the start of its journey.

“There’s a base of 600 accounts but it’s about really building the brand from the ground floor, which is one of my passions,” Babich said. “My goal is to work with our existing partners of Whole Foods and Stop and Shop and grow that business, grow the velocity, grow the brand awareness, but ultimately it’s also to add the right doors to the mix.”

Babich said he believes Snacklins has several hallmarks of a successful salty snack play for today’s consumer: low-calorie, gluten-free and vegan. Each 1oz bag provides a portioned controlled snack, but even then, only has 80 calories.

The brand appeared on a fall 2019 episode of Shark Tank, ultimately closing an investment of $250,000 in return for 5% of the company, plus 5% in advisory shares, from Mark Cuban. On the episode, founder Samy Kobrosly said that in 2018 Snacklins had $200,000 in sales and would finish 2019 with $2 million in sales.

Blessy himself is also relatively new to the company, joining Snacklins in July 2019 as CEO. “[Rob’s] deep CPG and salty snack experience will help bring SNACKLINS to the people,” Blessy said in a LinkedIn post.

In other people moves:

• In April PANOS Brands named Darcy Zbinovec as CEO. Zbinovec was previously the CEO for Ehrmann Commonwealth Dairy as well as Among Friends baking mixes.
• Freeze pops company DeeBee’s Organics hired Brian Braden, a former sales executive from Starbucks and Clif, as the company’s COO. Braden joined the company’s board of directors in 2019.
• Shannon Race was promoted to global marketing director at Vital Proteins earlier this Spring.