Chicago – C.A. Fortune, based in Chicago, is capitalizing on the growing consciousness of today’s better-for-you consumer food products market. After four years of strategic and planned growth, C.A. Fortune, a privately-held natural, specialty and bakery/deli sales and marketing agency, announces the company has joined forces with Portland, OR, based Bridge Sales & Marketing, completing the agency’s goal of providing coast to coast coverage for its client brands and retail customers.
The transaction with Bridge Sales & Marketing expands C.A. Fortune’s coverage to include Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. “We feel this is the right time and the right fit for us,” said Doug Brynelson, who founded Bridge Sales & Marketing along with his wife Marcia. “Working as part of the C.A. Fortune team will not only bring a myriad of additional resources, but allow us the opportunity to focus on what we do best, being in the stores, and developing relationships with buyers at both headquarter and store level.”
“The Bridge team has been able to construct an incredible, reputable business across the Pacific Northwest. From the strong culture in which they operate, to the level of service they provide their client and customer partners, it was truly a perfect match for both firms,” said Tyler Lowell, Managing Partner of C.A. Fortune. “We could not be happier with bringing the Bridge group into our organization.”
Marking its eighth transaction in just under four years, C.A. Fortune has vastly expanded beyond its initial upper-Midwest roots in 2013, to today employing more than 300 associates, and with seven offices across the U.S. – solely focused on the natural/organic, specialty/conventional and bakery/deli space.
“Today is a special day in the history of C.A. Fortune, and will go down as one we’ll always remember,” said Lowell, a former collegiate baseball player at Valparaiso University who started his career in grocery management with internationally renowned supermarket leader Aldi. “Between unsurpassed support from my three business partners, to our team members all across the country who bought into the company’s vision and mission from day one, we’re proud to celebrate as a team today. As we stress in almost every internal meeting we conduct, our goal has always been, and will continue to be, positive disrupters within the industry. As a result of the latest transaction, we will now be able to deliver an intimate, boutique level of service to our client and customer partners, yet on a national scope. Following one of our guiding principles dating back to the very beginning, the foundation for achieving such service will continue to reside in our number one asset, our people.”
C.A. Fortune’s continued growth solution has been a boon for smaller, medium, and larger-sized natural, specialty and bakery/deli consumer packaged goods companies that rely on agencies to market their products to retailers and consumers.
For example, Three Bakers, a manufacturer and marketer of gluten-free baked goods, breads, pizzas, rolls and dry snacks, was represented by numerous agencies across the country before partnering with C.A. Fortune.
“Prior to C.A. Fortune, we had a network of eight agencies across the United States. Managing it was cumbersome, from the number of contacts, to the quality of talent, etc.,” said Eric Shellenback, President and Managing Director of Three Bakers, based in Scranton, PA.“Following the initial appointment of C.A. Fortune, I now have one contact — and communication is much more efficient. Remarkably, C.A. Fortune has successfully acquired quality agencies with local knowledge and relationships. In addition, they’ve been able to effectively scale the same client-focused and customer-centric service level that I remember, dating back to when we first decided to partner with them. It was an easy decision to continue to add to their coverage as they expanded.”
About C.A. Fortune
Founded in 1983, C.A. Fortune is a leading full-service consumer products sales and marketing agency specializing in the Natural/Organic, Specialty/Conventional and Bakery/Deli trade channels. The company, with more than 300 employees nationwide, is headquartered in Chicago with regional offices in New York City metro, Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver and Portland, OR. Visit www.CAFortune.com.
Source: C.A. Fortune
