Durham, North Carolina-headquartered Seal the Seasons and South Barrington, Illinois-based Presence Marketing have announced a national brokerage agreement to bring locally grown frozen fruits and vegetables to more grocery stores in the United States. The companies will partner in the natural foods retail channel in most of the national market, and Presence will also take over conventional grocery representation in select regions.
“Our team is so impressed by Seal the Seasons’ innovative approach that brings locally-farmed, non-GMO produce to community grocery store freezers,” said Tracy Miedema, vice president of innovation and brand development at Presence Marketing. “We are excited to support their mission in each of these local markets across the nation.”
Seal the Seasons is reportedly one of the only brands showing double digit dollar sales growth over all 4, 12, 24 and 52-week periods in the natural segment. Frozen fruit dollar sales in the natural channel grew for over 52 weeks, but have weakened significantly during the last 4, 12, and 24-week periods. Dollar sales were down 29% in the most recent 12-week period. Meanwhile, Seal the Seasons growth is outpacing the category by more than 50 points, showing 12-week dollar growth of almost 30%.
Presence will also represent Seal the Seasons among key distribution partners including UNFI and KeHE. Over the last six months, the frozen fruit and vegetable company has expanded distribution into multiple new UNFI and KeHE warehouses.
“We’re excited about the Presence partnership because of their penetration and dominance within the natural channel,” said Seal the Seasons CEO Patrick Mateer. “Combined with our growing internal sales team led by Serafina Palandech, we will now be able to present the locally grown story to every account nationwide.”
The company has more than 65 unique local SKUs available, supporting over 70 farms and utilizing 12 freezing and packing sites throughout the United States. The product range is currently distributed to over 4,000 retail outlets in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest and Southeast regions of the United States.
