Seal The Seasons Snags Strategic Investment, Promotes Key Team Members

Regionally-sourced frozen fruit producer Seal The Seasons is off to a hot start ahead of summer with three key team members promoted across the organization alongside a new strategic partnership with its longtime packaging supplier, Canada-based Farnell Packaging.

The company’s promotions include former finance manager Neil O’Rourke, who will now serve as VP of finance; Haley Buggs, previously sales data manager, has been elevated to senior manager of sales planning and analytics; and Danielle Mercier has moved up from procurement manager to senior operations manager.

“These key promotions… highlight our business maturing from a startup reliant on outside funding to an established middle market brand with over 10 years of frozen category sales,” said founder and CEO Patrick Mateer in an email to Nosh. “Our team’s tenure reflects that; each promoted team member has over five years’ experience at the company. Although the company is only 11 years old, the average tenure across all Seal the Seasons team members is 7.5 years.”

Mateer said that O’Rourke will now assist with investor relations and “optimize higher value finance functions like inventory cash cycles, financial planning and modelling,” while Mercier was promoted to manage the growth and complexities of its expanding smoothie kit program in both conventional and certified organic SKUs.

As for its new strategic partner, Farnell invested an undisclosed sum via a convertible note as part of the companies’ combined commitment to reduce plastic packaging waste and unlock a “more integrated collaboration on new business opportunities,” including with existing grocery partners of the North Carolina-based brand.

“A top question I get every demo is about our packaging and is it recyclable or compostable,” Mateer explained. “Shoppers really care about this and are making purchase decisions due to packaging sustainability. Our strategy is to highlight the importance of sustainable packaging in our brand, then use the consumer feedback and ROM data to encourage grocery decision makers to use it more widely in their owned brand applications. Owned brand items are where sustainable packaging can make the largest environmental impact.”

“I am proud to strengthen our ties with a great Canadian company and highlight the immense economic benefit that North American free trade provides both the American and Canadian people,” he continued.

In addition to the team development and strategic partnership, the company has also locked in new national distribution partners, including Sprouts, which will roll out all four of the brand’s 24 oz. smoothie kits, including its top performing Blue Spirulina Tropical Blend. Price Chopper and two regional New York-area grocers are also bringing on the brand’s smoothie kits.

Since October 2024, the product line has rolled out to Giant Company, Giant Foods, Wegmans, Harris Teeter, Lowes Foods, Gelsons, Central Market, and Nugget Markets. As it looks ahead to the third quarter, Seal The Seasons will roll the line out to over 1,000 doors of a “national grocer” as well as two “significant regional grocers.”

“Seal the Seasons has purchased packaging from Farnell for close to a decade,” Mateer said while discussing the distribution gains. “Farnell has delivered excellent quality, price, and customer service, all while making it easy to access more sustainable packaging. As Seal the Seasons expands distribution on smoothie innovation and certified organic locally grown frozen fruit, this strategic partnership just made sense.”

In other notable People Moves:

• Former Harvest Food Group CEO Amit Pandhi has been named CEO and president of 200-year-old heritage food business Westminster Cracker Company, which is part of LaSalle Capital’s portfolio.
• Former Tru Beverage VP of national sales Sean McDonough has joined functional gum brand Run Gum / Speed Labs as VP of sales.
• David Abrahams announced his return to iLevel Brands as CEO; Abrahams co-founded the brokerage firm back in 2012 and has held a variety of roles within the organization prior to departing in October 2024.
• Former Konscious Foods chief product officer John Mitchell has joined lab-grown meat maker UPSIDE Foods as VP of sales.
• Affordable grocery marketplace Flashfood named Jordan Schenck as its new CEO, replacing outgoing chief executive Nicholas Bertram; Schenck has served as the company’s president and COO since October 2024.
• The J.M. Smucker Company promoted John Brase to president and COO. In this role, he will oversee U.S. retail coffee, U.S. retail frozen handheld and spreads, U.S. retail pet foods and sweet baked snacks segments as well as International and Away from Home businesses.