The orange partner, Uncle Matt’s Organic, is a grower based in Clermont, FL that is the nation’s original organic orange juice company according to MegaFood. The new product line will feature Ultra C-400 and Complex C supplments that are certified organic and are Non-GMO Project verified. The supplements will be made with 100 percent organic Navel and Hamlin oranges and will formally launch at Expo West and will roll out to MegaFood retailers nationwide this March.
Unique partnership
The partnership between MegaFood and Uncle Matt’s Organic is the first of its kind in the supplements industry, according to MegaFood CEO Robert Craven. Both companies share a vision for sustainable farming and providing people with authentic, natural nutrients from a trusted source.
“Our goal is to be a very transparent company,” Craven told NutraIngredients-USA. “We want to be able to describe to our customers exactly where our products come from. I like to call it Big T transparency, and it’s something I’ve spoken on. A lot of people talk about transparency, but what we have is real transparency. We have cameras on 24-7 in our factory facilities."
Industry leadership
Craven said taking those extra pains to adhere to the highest levels of quality is worth it both for consumers and for the supplement marketplace at large. It has often been observed that the barriers to entry in the supplements business are low—too low perhaps? Taking the Big T approach is not just about health, it’s about market leadership, Craven said.
‘It helps to redefine our marketplace. It creates more distance between us and the bad players. And we want as much distance as we can possibly get between us and the people doing the radio ads and seting aside money to pay off the government,” he said.
Craven said the Uncle Matt’s partnership is part of the development of the MegaFood’s “Slo Food Process” concept. Uncle Matt’s is a fourth-generation farm, and the current proprietor, Matt McLean, is a past president of the Organic Trade Association, Craven said.
Expanding the market
“It’s all about driving transparency and doing it with great people,” Craven said. “There is more to come on that. We want to promote where our products come from. We have a new ad campaign that will highlight our “Slo Food” process. By the end of this year we will have bought half a million pounds of organic produce. I don’t know of another supplement company that can make that claim.”
Craven said MegaFood’s goal is to expand the reach of supplements overall, not merely to compete for the same customers.
“We are in the business of improving lives. It’s not just about taking dollars from another company. It’s about bringing new customers into the supplement aisle. We want to help retailers to tell that story, and only MegaFood can tell the story that we buy direct from a particular organic farm,” he said.