Paleo clan building numbers
A wholefoods company partowned by former Bachelor star Art Green plans to increase staff numbers by 50 per cent after securing a $1 million funding boost.
Riot Foods, which sells cereals, protein powders and dried meat snacks under its CleanPaleo, and Poppy and Olive brands, has gained 155 new investors.
Director Ryan Kamins said a ‘‘couple hundred thousand’’ would go towards opening a second factory at Auckland International Airport to support its contract with Australian supermarket Coles.
The new factory would create 10 new jobs, adding to the company’s 19-strong workforce, Kamins said.
Riot Foods will start supplying
700 Coles Australia stores with its dried meat snacks, or biltong, in April.
The $1m crowdfunding campaign would also be used to develop and sell new products, including single-serve snacks, Kamins said.
In New Zealand, Riot Foods products are available in 250 supermarkets and about 50 speciality food stores, he said.
‘‘In New Zealand, we don’t have
100 per cent distribution in all the supermarkets or the stores we’d like, so priority number one is to get more stores.’’
Riot Foods, launched in 2013, also sells its products through Amazon US, and the company is now exploring new overseas markets such as Singapore and Japan.