Consumer Packaged Goods. All about convenience.
Functional foods and adaptogens. All about health.
The thing we like the most about today’s world is that health & wellness a sustained, trending topic, but so is accessibility and ease-of-use.
With the tear of a package and the mix of a spoon, one can now possess the many benefits of functional mushrooms, all within minutes.
You know how many mushrooms and vegetables you would have to pick, wash, cut, and cook to achieve the same nutrient profile as one serving of this company’s products?
We’ll give you a hint: it’s a lot.
It’s also a lot of work to keep track of every press release a company sends out, let alone deciphering the lingo.
That’s why we’ve compiled a quick update on what the latest is with Rritual Superfoods (CANADA: RSF) (U.S.: RRSFF) (EUROPE: 0RW), and why you should consider paying attention.
Brand Management
Rritual has recently announced an agreement with Ultimate Sales Canada.
True to their name, Ultimate Sales Canada handles national brand management for leading natural health brands across the country. Their specialty is sales (of course) and marketing. Accelerating the growth of early-stage companies within the health sector is Ultimate’s forte, and Rritual’s product rollout and strategy will be bolstered by the expertise of founders John Gibbins and Debra Pearce.
The diversity in Rritual’s strategy and target demographic are the key to their success. Grassroots health & wellness stores, drugstores, grocery chains, even major consumer club programs; Rritual aims to conquer all of them. The company intends, through their strategic partnerships, to scale into every possible nook and cranny within the CPG and functional food industries; independent, regional, national, all of it.
“Ultimate’s founders have extensive expertise and relationships throughout the natural product industry in Canada, all of which will be put to great use in Rritual’s Canadian rollout,” said Rritual’s VP Canadian Sales, Mr. Scott Naccarrato. “Our discussions to date indicate strong interest from Canadian retailers in the Rritual product line as they look to satisfy growing consumer demand for superfoods using mushrooms and adaptogens, and Ultimate will be a key partner in helping us to get to market in the near term.”
While the market has seen other, fragmented superfood blends hit the scene, the unique approach of having a caffeine-free and USDA-certified organic product is what sets them apart. After all, you shouldn’t have to make concessions to enjoy the benefits of superfoods.
The Immune-Synergy Six Mushroom Blend, in particular, is the only functional health product on the market that contains a prebiotic blend. Prebiotics help nourish a healthy gut microbiome, which is an increasingly more researched aspect in the human body. Health experts believe that this specific area of focus can have a huge influence on not only our physical health, but mental health as well.
Marketing
Another one of Rritual’s strategic alliances lies in the marketing department.
This recent partnership was structured to open up as many retail channels as possible, with the ultimate goal of surpassing 40,000 points of distribution in the U.S. At the time of writing, Rritual has already achieved 25% of this, having reached 10,000 points of distribution across 2,400 retail stores.
Accelerating brand growth is far from a foreign concept for Rritual, as their team brings veteran-level experience in scaling companies within the world of consumer-packaged goods (CPG).
So then, you ask, who is this partner that can accelerate this?
Crossmark.
Crossmark Inc., hailing from headquarters in Plano, Texas, specializes in the growth of retail brands in all areas of the consumer goods industry. Over the last century, plenty of the world’s most prominent companies have partnered with Crossmark to drive sales, manage brand success, and inject themselves with a healthy dose of growth acceleration.
The primary services Crossmark lends are:
- Headquarter sales – Planning, Selling, Execution, Brand Management
- Retail services – Selling, Merchandising, Shelf Management, Audits, Resets
- Marketing services – Experiential, In-outlet Consumer Engagement, Shopper Marketing, Omnichannel Marketing, Digital Marketing, and Media
- Insights & Analytics – Proprietary Data Sets, Integrated Insights leading to Smarter Solutions that will drive Faster Growth
- Ecommerce solutions
- Order-to-cash
- In-store and out-of-store customer engagement
“CROSSMARK will accelerate Rritual’s development, contributing significantly to our overall strategy to work with national brand leaders, simply, Crossmark is best of class,” noted David Kerbel, Rritual’s CEO. “Their expertise and relationships will power the Rritual brand, allowing us to scale more expediently and efficiently on a national level with a streamlined internal team.”
Kerbel, being an ex-Crossmark executive himself, has effectively tailored a solution that meets Rritual’s needs to a T. The synergy between Kerbel and Crossmark’s SVP of Customer Development, Jim Badalti, appears to be unmatched, as they both recognize the early-stage opportunities that exist in the world of superfoods. Establishing Rritual as a leader in the game, as a shared objective, promises a strong and effective partnership to scale this budding functional foods powerhouse.
According to Jim Badalati, Crossmark’s SVP of Customer Development West, “We are looking forward to partnering with David and the Rritual team. David and I started at Crossmark together over 20 years ago and are aligned with doing things right the first time.”
“At Rritual our objective is to have our brand within an arm’s length of consumer desire,” stated Kerbel. “This will be a highly effective partnership, based on the collaborative execution of our strategic sales plan. CROSSMARK and Rritual are committed to excellence. Together, we are Rritual.”
Research & Development
Thanks to the company’s Chief Innovation Officer, Stacey Gillespie, Rritual has launched their Research & Development division. Gillespie plans to develop a category-leading pipeline of innovative products, while establishing the best practices for doing so.
The key for this program to excel is to identify categories with a high growth potential. Functional mushrooms and adaptogens (their flagship) are examples of some high growth lines of products.
A few examples of what Q2/3 has in store for the consumers of Rritual are:
- Vegan Chai Rose Latte Collagen Booster: Collagen-Booster Rose Chai Latte Powder made with tremella, reishi, aloe vera and other beautifying superfoods in a skin-hydrating & vegan cream base.
- Mood & Energy Ube Matcha Latte Powder: Made with Cordyceps, lion’s mane, matcha & purple/blue hue super foods (ube purple sweet pea powder, purple pea flower, blue spirulina) broad-spectrum of prebiotic superfoods of purple sweet potato powder, lucuma, and inulin which combined support a healthy microbiome so you can trust your gut again.
- Superfood Vegan Creamer: Made with vegan cream base and proprietary immune-synergy blend with key adaptogenic botanicals.
- Ready to Drink Beverages: Powered by adaptogenic botanicals and enhanced with organic exotic superfruits and prebiotic fibers to support a healthy microbiome which in turn helps support a healthy immune system, digestive function, and a positive outlook. These beverages will provide clean and pure refreshment to replenish the body and mind.
These new product lines will directly be integrated with the company’s marketing and distribution partnerships, including that with Crossmark. Giving your new product lines the torque they need to excite and capture the attention of consumers is a key aspect of a successful CPG strategy.
“Rritual has embraced the concept of being a consumer centered enterprise, and as it relates to product development that means we begin with an understanding of consumer desires and industry trends from our research and relationships, and we design and commercialize our products to meet those desires and trends on a timely basis,” said Stacey Gillespie, Rritual’s Chief Innovation Officer.
There is nothing like investing in a real company that not only produces revenue, but works with world class distribution and innovation partners to continue doing so.
We’re here for the long haul.
Disclaimer: Rritual Superfoods Inc. is an Edge Communications Client, and we own shares in the company.