Goodness is defined as both the quality of being morally virtuous and as the beneficial or nourishing element of food. How’s that for on-trend? It’s the perfect intersection of what’s happening in the world today with citizens rallying together (by staying apart) and with food culture focused on quality, organics and its impact on the planet. As this edition of In Partnership With explores, goodness is imbued throughout the careers of these spectacular entrepreneurs.
Starting up in the late 80s, Neal Brothers today is a quickly expanding food business built by two brothers (yes, real brothers!), Chris and Peter Neal. Originally focused on making croutons in their mom’s kitchen north of Toronto, they’ve grown far beyond a single SKU. Today, Neal Brothers is not only a brand (with no namesake croutons) as it boasts its signature line of products. Neal Brothers chips and salsa, pasta sauce, salad dressings and much, much more fill leading grocery stores.
So, there’s the Neal Brothers brand plus the Neal Brothers Distribution Company. In the distribution space, there’s about 50 different brands from across North America in the natural, organic and specialty spaces. If you look in your cupboard or fridge, you’re sure to find one of their products. Select customer favourites include Tazo Tea, La Croix Sparkling Water, Breton Crackers, Yum Earth Candy, Flow Alkaline Spring Water, Kettle Chips and more.
The Human Side of Food
Growing up, the Neal family did not eat fast food. Instead, they shared food by breaking bread together around a table. More importantly, around that table were conversations and laughter. It was humanity at its best. It was the epitome of family and community, both of which remain intrinsically important to them. So, their focus on the quality food business comes naturally.
The idea of taking a little extra time sourcing better food and consuming better food makes so much sense.
It really is imbued in everything they do. The charitable donations the Neal Brothers teams focus on revolve around community and sharing really good food. For Peter, he can look in the mirror at night and say, “yeah, you’re doing a good thing here. You’re not setting the world on fire with with crazy salaries. You’re not pillaging. Rather, you’re part of the ecosystem in a genuine way.” But that success didn’t happen quickly.
Ready for Takeoff
Launching a new company in the late 1980s and early 1990s wasn’t easy. Especially for a category that didn’t really exist yet. Today, we take for granted that organic, natural and fresh foods are readily available. We know that environmentally friendly food production is important. Sure, we pay a premium for such products, but they’ve entered the mainstream. For those who were not yet shopping the aisles a generation ago, that era represented the pinnacle of heavily processed food. Food was cheap, fast and nutrition was secondary. Layer on an economic recession – which drove up demand for cheap food – and that paralyzed any initial interest for premium food innovation.
So what did the Neal brothers do? Together from their mom’s kitchen, they turned to their dad, Stan. Peter shares that his father would regularly guide them over the first 10 years as they tried to gain traction. His advice remains relevant today for any startup:
Don’t forget, an aircraft uses a significant percentage of its fuel just getting off the ground.
That analogy meant a lot to Peter and Chris as they were trying to start a natural, organic food company during an era where that didn’t mean much to most people.
Well Ahead of the Curve
People were wondering what was going on when Neal Brothers launched an organic blue corn chip. They said “What the heck is that? Did they burn them? Are they colouring them? Why organic? What’s Fairtrade?” Peter chuckles today looking back but it was a real struggle to get noticed. They did get some premium retailer pickup, such as Puseteris, Summerhill Markets and Longos, but it wasn’t at their required volume.
That business reality was one of the reasons Neal Brothers expanded and became a distributor. This shift increased their shipping loads, their revenue and their scale with retailers. By the late 90s, it became abundantly clear to some of the bigger retailers that they needed to have these kinds of products. Consumers were finally asking for them! So mainstream grocery stores started to carve out space within their stores to feature Neal Brothers products. That was the game changer, shares Peter. A&P Dominion (now owned by and operated as Metro) was one of the first to take a chance together with Neal Brothers.
By the early 2000s, Neal Brothers were bringing on more products they thought were a good fit for consumers and retailers.
That’s when the business really started to explode, but not without new challenges ahead.
A Brand Identity Crisis
Peter shares that as the business expanded, they found their logo was trapped in a ‘bar and shield’ layout. To address this, the team worked with Jackman Reinvents; Peter describes as “that incredible branding group.” By layering in another “amazing design shop” called Slingshot, Neal Brothers was able to transform the look and feel of the logo and their packaging so they were unmistakably readable and relatable to consumers.
This became a brand imperative since the struggle for Peter and Chris became personal at that point. They would be in a social setting and someone would introduce them saying “you must know Neal Brothers foods.” But people, often embarrassing themselves and the brothers, would say “no I don’t know of them but we love these blue chips in the black bag.”
Peter shares – after nearly 30 years – that their most successful products were more well known than the brand itself.
Thanks to their design and creative agency partners, the brand refresh has been another big game changer in the last few years for the company. It continues to support their business expansions today.
Fostering Partnerships for Success Together
Peter shares that he and Chris are always looking for new food trends and they’ve built an impressive stable of distribution brands. While balancing patience with competitive spirit, Peter takes great pride in being able to find new opportunities. For starters, he discovered Tazo Tea back in the late 90s before Starbucks owned it. He did this by traveling to Darjeeling and Kurseong in India to really roll up his sleeves and get himself immersed. He’s done the same thing with Raincoast Crisps.
Each time the Neal brothers have engaged together with a new brand, it is not solely based on revenue potential. It has been about core tenets that are important to them more broadly. These include asking:
- Is the pricing in the right place?
- Are they positioning within the market correctly?
- Do they fulfil a need within their category?
- Is their team the right fit with our people?
Reflecting on the modern workplace, Peter and Chris acknowledge their team spends a majority of their day with work. So the brothers together try to ensure it’s enjoyable. For Neal Brothers, that starts with selecting team members, business partners and distributor clients carefully. In some cases, they even became part of Peter or Chris’s friendship group. And, Peter shares, that’s important as Founders.
Life is too short, as Gord Downie, sang. “This ain’t no dress dress rehearsal… this is our life.” The Neal brothers try to be aware of that.
People can make a buck anywhere, Peter says, so why not make it where you really want it and with the right people you want to be in partnership with?
Pandemic Panic
Like every other category, working through the last year has been anything but easy for Neal Brothers. Together with everyone else, for the first six weeks of the pandemic, Peter says that they had no idea which side was up. And then very quickly they realized how much pantry loading was happening. They were on their social media feeds trying to encourage people not to do this as it was an act of selfishness. Not consciously for most people, obviously, but it was panic and it was hard on their teams and their retailers. There was lots of food available to go around if everyone trusted the supply chain.
Working through the distribution headaches and changes in consumer choices was tricky but there have been some clear wins. With everyone at home, their snack business went up over 35 percent, led by their Neal Brothers Tortilla Chips and Salsa. While appreciating the increased uptake, Peter and Chris had “almost a guilty sensation” because they had so many friends hurting in the restaurant and hospitality sectors. So it was really an incredible range of emotions for them.
To help their industry and communities across Canada during COVID, Neal Brothers created programs through Gold Medal Plates and supported community food centres to channel support back to those who need it.
Peter is adamant that food is a connector of people and it is central to our bodies, our health and our mental and physical state. That’s why Neal Brothers is so actively supporting solutions for food insecurity in Canada. They’re seeing the metrics come out of these programs and it’s tough to watch. For instance, for single moms with a couple of kids at home, who may already be challenged by living in a food desert (a neighbourhood lacking quality food options at affordable prices), this can be a precarious time. Suddenly, that single mom may be out of work – which makes her and her family panicked with incredible amounts of stress and pressure. With that reality facing far too many of Canada’s most vulnerable, it’s having devastating effects. Neal Brothers is trying to close that gap with its food supports.
Looking Forward Together for a Healthier Future
Good food that tastes great has long been the key driver for Neal Brothers. As the industry continues to evolve post-pandemic, Peter believes we’ll see people looking at better, more functional foods. Maybe for some, that’s lower carb, for others it could be more personalized food choices. This could include looking at what’s better for you, your body’s systems and your broader health goals.
When it comes to food, Peter invites each of us to consider what works for us.
Does some food cause you bloating? Or do you know of a food that wears you down? It’s different for all of us. As a result, he encourages us all to reflect on our values around our food, our planet and our communities. Better choices are available for those who want it and can enjoy it together. And that’s pure goodness.
In Partnership With
Peter Neal is the Co-Founder of the national food production and distribution company, Neal Brothers. Started in the spring of 1988, Peter and Chris had the idea of offering better quality food products than what was available. Today, using a combination of more natural ingredients, good value and sexier packaging gives consumers more choice from the typical offerings of national brands and expensive imports. Neal Brothers’ commitment has always been, and remains steadily, to offer food products that are healthier than the norm, using the best ingredients, no matter the cost. Neal Brothers believes in the whole concept and importance of eating organic both in order to live healthier today and to sustain our environment for the future.
Tim Bishop, CM is a multi-disciplined executive with a proven record of optimizing strategic efforts to expand the influence of leading organizations, such as the Canadian Marketing Association, Cineplex Entertainment, Lavalife.com, IMI International and Northstar Research Partners. In Partnership With is his latest focus to curate Canadian marketing experts to celebrate the power of strategic partnerships in a perspective-based content series.