“Through our 10 years as a brand, we’ve remained true to our consumers, ourselves and our mission to shake up the food industry. We’re so excited to have the opportunity to take Quinn to the next level and make changes in our food system for the better,” founder and CEO Kristy Quinn told FoodNavigator-USA.
She explained that funding led by NewRoad Capital Partners with follow-on investment from Boulder Food Group, Echo Capital and Sunil Thakor will allow Quinn to “really lean into our Be Better. Do Better mission,” which is “rooted in trying to change things for the better by not only supporting organic farming practices, but also meeting conventional farmers where they are and encouraging them to try something different, something better.”
Recognizing that regenerative certification can be a long, hard and expensive process, Quinn’s Be Better. Do Better mission rewards farmers for marking small steps to improve their growing practices by integrating their crops into its supply chain and telling their story to consumers through its Farm-To-Bag initiative.
“The goal of our mission is that each small step these farmers take will improve growing practices overall, and will help drive change towards a more sustainable and regenerative future in food. The idea is not to strive for perfection, but to be open to positive change,” Lewis added.
The company’s mission has helped it connect not only with farmers, but also consumers.
Consumers drawn to the brand’s transparency and “reimagined” sweet and savory popcorn, pretzels and snack kits have helped drive sales of the company’s pretzels up 120.8% year-over-year in MULO and 287.7% year-over-year at Walmart to bolster the company’s revenue by 60% year-over-year since 2019, according to Quinn.
To build on this momentum, Lewis said Quinn will use part of the new funds to develop a direct-to-consumer site “with exciting offerings for our loyal fan base.”
She said these will include more “first to market snacks in the coming months that deliver not only on taste, but are also better-for-you and backed by our Farm-To-Bag Transparency initiative, which highlights the real super heroes, our growers!”
Teaming with NewRoad Capital Partners in this fundraise also brings Quinn insider knowledge from industry veteran Michele Meyer, who is an operating partner at NewRoad Capital Partners and former president of Small Planet Foods at General Mills’ Snacks operating unit and who will join Quinn’s board of directors.
“NewRoad is a collaborative partner who believes in our mission and what we want to achieve as a brand, which is to be an agent for positive change in our food system,” Lewis said, adding, “Making a difference is why we fight so hard. Looking forward to this new chapter!”