MegaFood receives a batch of fresh broccoli to be used in nutrient manufacturing. Photo courtesy of FoodState
Each week about 1,200 people tune in to 24/7 webcams installed in FoodState’s Londonderry factory to see how their supplements are made. That connection to the product is apparently translating into big sales—generating just north of $40 million in annual revenue.
CEO Robert Craven says the company’s success is based on a culture focused on empowerment, helping others and transparency. When Craven took over nearly five years ago, he introduced the idea of Zingmojo, which is “a state of controlled craziness” that occurs when people are “passionate to deliver their mission of improving lives.”
“When we’re going crazy, we just say, Zingmojo!” says Craven. “It’s like, go get it done.” And it seems to have worked. Over the last five years, FoodState has doubled its sales, though Craven says money is not
the focus.
Instead, FoodState measures success by counting the number of times it improves people’s lives, equating each tablet to a time it has assisted others. In 2014, the 42-year-old company was acquired by Pharmavite, the national leader in supplements. Craven says the acquisition has not taken any local control from the company but has provided opportunities for research and development.
FoodState, which employs 170, uses 500,000 pounds of food to make its tablets. Customer’s favorite products include the Blood Builder, Turmeric Booster, Women’s One Daily Multivitamin, and B-Complex supplements. Supplements are sold under the brands of MegaFood, which offers 82 products, and Innate, which offers 59 products. They are available at more than 2,000 retailers, including Whole Foods Markets nationwide.
The company partners with several organic farms across the United States, including Uncle Matt’s Organic Farm in Florida. Craven knows each of his farmers by name. “That’s how you build trust,” he says.
Uncle Matt’s ugly oranges are used for Vitamin C tablets. The process, lengthier than other supplement companies, according to Craven, takes about 236 hours, or nearly 20 days per batch. Craven says this allows every nutrient to be extracted from the fruits and vegetables it uses. The two-part process involves a wet process (oranges are ground into a soupy paste) and a dry process (the paste is dried into flakes and made into tablets). “We really want to capture the essence of nutrition that you get from food,” says Craven.
To learn more, visit www.foodstate.com.
By Caroline Consoli of the Young Reporters Project, a partnership between Business NH Magazine and University of NH Manchester.
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