(Ontario, CA) – FiveStar Gourmet Foods, producers of the Simply Fresh™ brand, has added another sales powerhouse to their retail sales team with the addition of Kate Brooks as Vice President Sales East. Kate will report directly to newly hired industry leader, Kristyn Lawson who was recently named Senior Vice President of Sales.
As Vice President of Sales East, Kate will be responsible for developing strategic sales plans and programs in collaboration with customer partners. She will promote revenue growth and exceed customer satisfaction and ultimately help customers provide consumers with their preference for the Simply Fresh brand™.
Kate brings over 14 years’ experience as a solutions provider within the fresh, value-added category. She comes most recently from Renaissance Food Group as Director of Prepared Foods where she led all prepared foods strategy development, account management and program design. Prior to that she was Director of Business Development for Taylor Farms where she drove significant revenue growth.
Kate will report into the FiveStar facility in Naples, Florida which is a state-of-the-art, 85,000-square-foot plant that was a $20 million-dollar investment and has a wide array of offerings for retail to support businesses across the Eastern Seaboard, like their strong partnership with Costco. FiveStar also distributes its Simply Fresh brand of healthy foods from its two manufacturing facilities in California.
“It is fantastic to have sales talent like Kate added to our retail sales team to help perpetuate the Simply Fresh™ brand within the East”, said Tal Shoshan, Chief Executive Officer of FiveStar. “She has a wealth of experience in delivering exceptional service and building sustainable partnerships. There is no better place for Kate to shine than expanding on our commitment in the East to deliver the freshest, healthiest products, closest to the source.”
Originally from the Midwest, Kate has an undergraduate degree in Journalism from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She began her new position in early April.
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About Five Star Gourmet Foods:
With an “appetite for excellence”, leading innovator within fresh and frozen value-added foods, Southern-California based Five Star Gourmet Foods, the producers of the Simply Fresh™ brand, have been producing premium, healthy foods for more than two decades. With processing facilities nationwide, FiveStar manufacturers a complete line of retail and foodservice products including convenience salad bowls and snacks featuring fresh produce and proteins under the Simply Fresh™ and MiniMeals2Go™ brands using all natural, no artificial ingredients. Five Star has achieved both organic certification and the highest quality and food safety certification of SQF Level 3. To learn more, go to FiveStarGourmetFoods.com
