Yolélé Parts Ways with Production Partner to Grow CPG Biz, Become Fonio Supplier

African foods brand Yolélé is splitting from its longtime supply and distribution partner Woodland Foods as it looks to expand its business to serve as both a CPG brand and an ingredient supplier.

Founded in 2017, Yolélé produces a line of products made with fonio, a grain native to West Africa that is naturally high in fiber and gluten-free. While Woodland Foods was previously responsible for managing sales of Yolélé’s bagged fonio and pilafs products – which are intended to be cooked and used like rice as a side dish or used as an ingredient – the realignment places those products under direct control of the brand, which also sells a line of fonio-based chips.

Speaking to NOSH this week, Yolélé co-founder and CEO Philip Tevorow said the departure from Woodland is part of the company’s strategy for 2024 as it anticipates incoming financing to support a new production facility in Senegal, which will handle fonio processing as well as some manufacturing and distribution.

“We want to be able to go to different co-packers and to own the distribution channel and promote the products that we know they need to be promoted in order to achieve good velocities.”

The New York-based brand was founded by Tevorow and chef Pierre Thiam to fill what they saw as white space for African foods in the American marketplace. As that audience develops, Yolélé is positioning itself to be a key supplier in the space.

“The whole idea was to be an African food brand, and with fonio as our first ingredient platform,” he said. “So we have been slowly, I think, migrating towards that African food brand position in the eyes of our audience and always going in signaling in that direction and making our product range reflect that proposition.”

Woodland’s previous licensing agreement gave it almost complete control over the production, packaging and sale of Yolélé, with distribution going through UNFI and KeHE. However, the two companies reached a mutual agreement to part ways, Tevorow said, in large part due to changes in priorities for both businesses.

In late 2021, private equity firm Graham Partners became a majority investor in Woodland Foods and brought a new set of sales priorities with them. Meanwhile, Yolélé has long wanted to begin taking more control over the products.

“We’ve been working together on a plan for a smooth transition and still have a really good friendly relationship [with Woodland] and are supporting one another through this transition,” he said.

The first and most immediate change is in price: the SRP of fonio and fonio pilafs will go from $6.99 to $5.99.

When completed, he said, the Senegal facility will expand sales in West Africa, Europe and the U.S. and help the company achieve its long-term goals of raising income for its Senegalese farmer partners. Tevorow did not specify when the business expects to announce new funding or open the facility in Senegal.

“It’s really important that we’re not the only company out there using fonio as an ingredient,” he said. “We want to see fonio used in, in foods and beverages all over the place by brands large and small.”

One avenue for raising awareness is brand partnerships. This month, Yolélé collaborated with Brooklyn Brewery to produce a co-branded fonio white beer, now available at Whole Foods stores nationwide.

Currently, Yolélé’s products are available in around 2,500 doors in the U.S., including Whole Foods, Target, Jewel-Osco, The Fresh Market and Meijer stores, as well as numerous independent accounts and other regional chains.

Next year, Tevorow also wants to see Yolélé expand into the food service channel – a goal that had been underway prior to 2020 but was derailed by the pandemic, during which the brand refocused on CPG and developed product lines such as its fonio chips.

Once funding is secured, Tevorow said the brand will look to expand its headcount. Currently the company is run by five full-time employees and it intends to begin hiring next year with hopes for another potential wave of hiring in 2025.