If you look at the evolution of our packaging, the words keto-friendly have got smaller because the reality is, whether it’s things like gluten-free or Atkins or other lifestyle changes, those things ebb and flow. What’s changed is, when we introduced our product line at retail it was very focused on being keto-friendly. JW : We think there’s huge additional whitespace in the US. JF: I guess that means there’s plenty of demand in the US? JW : We’re still predominantly in the US we do a little bit of business in Canada but only online, and then we do some selling in some international markets but it’s pretty opportunistic. JF: Is Catalina Crunch still predominately focused on the US market? That combination of getting the sweetness right and the masker right, that’s what takes so much time and effort and most private-label offerings didn’t do that. Because we use pea protein as opposed to whey protein, you have to mask that pea protein flavour. What took us two years of R&D before we launched, was focusing on getting that taste and making sure the crunch was always there, hence the name. If it doesn’t taste great people will never buy it a second time. The hardest thing when you’re doing a zero-sugar or low-sugar product is taste. A couple of retailers tried to come out with a zero or low-sugar own-label product line and it hasn’t been successful. JF: Does Catalina face any competition from private label? Consumers who have disposable income will continue to buy indulgent and luxury items, but people who are on a more fixed income are trading down to own label in the US. I think you’ll see a splitting of the marketplace. I think what we’re seeing in the US, there are more people moving to private label Aldi just announced they’re opening 250 more stores in the US because Aldi sees a great opportunity to take advantage of the inflationary pricing that some CPG companies have gone through. It’s always been considered high quality. The other thing that’s happening, and I’ve spent a lot of time in the UK market, private label has been so far ahead in the UK versus what it is in the US. JF: Will consumers have to get used to paying more for their groceries? We feel this year our prices won’t come down but we’re hoping we’ll be able to keep them level and at the same time help our margins a little bit with the input costs dropping. We didn’t take as many price increases as others did. I think many of the CPG companies have seen an opportunity to keep prices where they are, which is why so many are showing record profits because they are seeing some of the input costs come down. I find it hard to believe input costs are the same as last year. JF: What’s the outlook on pricing for Catalina? What’s so important is to make sure from a forecasting standpoint, that you’re not over supplied but that you’re never running short. I think what AI can help us with is predictive software. Like everyone is saying, we need to be cautious about AI.

We want to make sure we get that end-of-line automation in place as quickly as possible. If there’s a challenge, there is a backlog on robotic equipment and packaging equipment. It certainly helps on efficiencies and therefore margins, but it also helps on quality. We have a major automation plan that will be fully implemented by the end of this year. One of the things that we’re doing, which is where we see a real opportunity, is bringing more automation into our facility. JW : I think we’ve got the supply chain in a pretty good situation. JF: What are the challenges for Catalina this year? But those are the types of things we look at – are there specific food items that can help people manage their everyday health? JW : There was a time about five, seven years ago, where a lot of companies came out with heart-healthy product lines.

JF: What is going to be the next big thing for Catalina Crunch? Our growth rate continues to be very strong, although it’s slowing a bit because the base has gotten so large. Last year, we had high double-digit growth and this year we’re continuing to see double-digit growth. JW : If you look at two years ago, we had triple-digit growth but from a small base. JF: What sort of growth has the company been seeing? We believe that, within a couple of years, it can be $250m and then we have a path to $500m. If you look at syndicated data, as well as some outside estimates, the brand value through point of sale is a bit over $110m. We think the brand has a lot of opportunity to grow. Joel Warady: The idea is you want to grow a business so you have a brand that lasts forever. Just Food: What are Catalina Crunch’s plans as we move through the inflation episode?

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