Like many food and beverage CPG companies, LesserEvil has seen “interest rates climbing and the capital markets being tough,” so the company has been “hyper-focused on manufacturing excellence and cost savings within our supply chains,” company president and CEO Charles Coristine told FoodNavigator-USA.
With the latest round of funding, LesserEvil focused on three core areas to improve the profitability and sustainability of the company, he added.
“We deployed our capital in three ways. We paid down all our working capital lines because we thought that was an effective use of capital, and we invested in capacity at both our old factory and the new one we are building. Lastly, we invested in technology that would help increase our throughput in line where we could get efficiency gains.”
'2024 is the year of the multipack'
One area the brand is investing in is multi-pack options, similar to other CPG brands.
LesserEvil “started investing in small-bag capacity a couple of years ago” but is doubling down on its small-bag production capacity and making them “at the same price or lower than our competitors,” Coristine said.
Currently, LesserEvil operates two facilities, one in Danbury and New Milford, Conn., and a portion of the funding will go to expanding its production facility to meet the demand for multipack, which have been a growing area of interest in the market.
“2024 is the year of the multipack, and we are making big investments in our production capabilities (with our second factory now up and running) to ensure we can get on-the-go packs in the hands of all of our consumers. Our ability to self-manufacture gives us tremendous upside to continue delivering the innovation and better-for-you snacks that consumers crave,” Coristine said in a press release.
