Columbus Dispatch, OH
03-15-07
Savoring its success Glory Foods adds line as brand grows
Tracy Turner
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Jeff Hollenback, at the OSU Food Industry Center Pilot Plant, is a member of
Glory Foods’ research and development team. The device behind him is used to
measure the temperatures and pressures inside canned food as it cooks to
determine production techniques.
Call Glory Foods the little company that could. Begun 15 years ago, humbly
grounded in an idea by a group of friends to offer Southern-style food, the
Columbus company has grown into a multimillion-dollar business with products
sold in more than 40 states.
With a line of 85 canned, frozen and fresh foods, Glory Foods will introduce its
latest product line in Columbus area grocery stores this month.
The line, which includes sauerkraut and creole rice, is part of the company’s
aggressive growth plan, President G. Barry Huff said.
"We think there’s incredible amount of opportunity in the line," Huff said.
The privately held company’s revenue has doubled in the past three years to
about $60 million last year. Huff declined to provide more updated financial
information.
Started in 1992 by Columbus residents Dan Charna, Iris Cooper and the late Bill
Williams and Garth Henley, the company first targeted its products to black
consumers.
But its products have since gained a wider appeal among customers who like
Southernstyle foods.
Its products are now in 140 grocery retail chains and 15,000 stores nationwide,
including Kroger and Wal-Mart. Much of the company’s sales are along the
Eastern coast, with a strong presence in northern Florida, Tennessee and
Washington.
Glory Foods, which expands its product line annually, is in a sweet spot. The
U.S. ethnicfoods market has grown to an estimated $75 billion in annual sales,
according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center.
That’s the equivalent of one dollar of every $7 being spent on groceries,
according to the research center at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
Sixty-five percent of the ethnic-food sales are through the food-service industry,
with 35 percent of sales through grocery retailers, the center said.
Glory, which sells its food exclusively through grocery stores, is in a strong
position in the market, said Michael Sansolo, an analyst with the Food Marketing
Institute in Arlington Va.
"America is getting more diverse, with more immigration and more exposures to
new foods," Sansolo said. "People want to try new taste or new varieties in their
daily foods.
Glory has contracts with growers and plants in Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana,
Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas to produce and package the food.
The company, adopting the title as "the leader in Seasoned Southern Style
foods," has 26 Columbus employees.
Glory’s new Savory Sauerkraut, Sauerkraut with Apples, Dirty Rice and Creole
Rice lines come on the heals of its successful launch last year of Sensibly
Seasoned, a lower-sodium, low-fat, meatless alternative to southern-style
vegetables and side dishes.
The line, which is a healthconscious alternative in its stable of Southern-style
vegetables and side dishes, has "been a big hit" with customers and has
introduced the company to a whole new demographic, Huff said.
The 10-product line now "represents about 14 percent of the company’s canned
sales" because of its appeal to people who are "serious about moderating their
sodium or fat intake," he said.
Glory Foods’ rice lines are a blend of long-grain rice, herbs and spices that are
slow-simmered to provide a taste of Louisiana cuisine. The company chose to
add them to its lineup to play on its Southern influences and to take advantage of
consumer’s growing interest in Creole flavors, Huff said.
He said the company chose to add sauerkraut to its product line because, "It’s a
huge category that didn’t have huge flavor."
The products are a combination of savory seasonings blended to create a
sweeter and more robust taste than that of traditional sauerkraut. The company
predicts sauerkraut could represent about 7 percent of its canned food sales in
the next couple of years, Huff said.
"People bake (sauerkraut), put apples and meat flavoring in it, all the things that
we have ready in a can," Huff said, adding that in a taste test last year at the
German Village Oktoberfest, the product received a positive response from
participants.
He said the company plans to expand the brand to include smoked meats,
desserts or breakfast items and market its foods to more West Coast locations.
tturner@dispatch.com