DALLAS – Hail Merry welcomes food industry leader Rick Roberts to its executive team as chief operating officer. In this newly created position, Roberts joins Founder Susan O’Brien and CEO Sarah Palisi Chapin in setting strategic direction for the company and accelerating Hail Merry’s national expansion. Hail Merry produces and distributes award-winning snacks and desserts through a unique operation that is certified gluten-free, non-GMO and vegan.
“With Hail Merry’s philosophy of making fresh food in a just-in-time kitchen operation, Rick’s expertise will complement Chief Product Officer Alison Brushaber’s leadership in helping our team build on prior work and continue sourcing innovative, non-GMO ingredients,” said CEO Chapin.
Chapin continued, “Hail Merry is capitalized for significant growth, bolstered by strong demand for our products and strengthened by new marketing partnerships so it is a great time to enhance our team with such a widely respected leader as Rick.”
“I am so pleased to have the opportunity to help Hail Merry maintain its standards of excellence while increasing the production capabilities behind its award winning recipes,” stated Roberts. “There is great momentum behind the company’s brand and its ‘stay fresh mindset’ that comes with its pure ingredient purpose. It is an honor to help the company realize its potential while running a certified non-GMO, gluten-free, vegan operation.”
Founder Susan O’Brien added, “Rick’s expertise will help Hail Merry stay true to its mission of delivering healthy and great tasting food to help people achieve higher health, even as the company experiences exponential growth.”
In his new role, Roberts is responsible for overseeing operations involving many aspects of Hail Merry’s corporate and manufacturing functions. His corporate responsibilities include leadership of accounting, information systems, human resources, operations, quality assurance, purchasing and logistics. His role also encompasses all aspects of manufacturing award-winning desserts and snacks from the company’s state-of-the-art commercial kitchen in Dallas.
Roberts joins Hail Merry from a position as vice president of Gourmet Cuisine, a Le Duff America company that specializes in high quality soups, sauces and dressings manufactured specifically for customers in food service and retail channels. He previously worked with H. E. Butt Grocery Company (H-E-B) as director of perishable operations-manufacturing while serving on the company’s manufacturing strategic leadership team. Roberts had worked his way to H-E-B’s senior management through various management positions with the 300+ store grocery chain. Roberts began his career with Fleming Foods Company after receiving his Bachelor of Business Administration in Management degree from Oklahoma State University.
Hail Merry’s COO announcement builds on the company’s recent momentum with its announcement of receipt of investment capital from Dallas-based HBC Investments and Los Angeles-based Powerplant Ventures (PPV), led by Mark Rampolla, founder of ZICO Coconut Water and Kevin Boylan, co-founder of Veggie Grill. Hail Merry also announced it will be represented by Presence Marketing/Dynamic Presence in natural, specialty grocery channels.
Currently Hail Merry can be found in natural specialty grocery channels including Whole Foods Market, HEB and Central Market, Natural Grocers/Vitamin Cottage and Costco. Other brands carrying the Hail Merry line of natural snack products include Virgin America and OMNI Hotels and Resorts.
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About Hail Merry
Hail Merry is a category redefining snack-food company born out of yoga culture. Susan O’Brien founded the company in 2008 to create great tasting snacks from pure ingredients that are consciously sourced and prepared in innovative ways. O’Brien, along with CEO Sarah Palisi Chapin and Chief Product Officer, Alison Brushaber lead the company with conscious capitalism as the core of their mission and value system for the company. All Hail Merry Snacks and Desserts are certified gluten-free, non-GMO verified, vegan, and kosher. www.hailmerry.com
Source: Hail Merry
