Functional food ingredients, omega-3

Doubling food sales in three years at Ocean Nutrition Canada

Ocean Nutrition Canada (acquired by DSM, 2012) - Director, North America Food Ingredients

Ocean Nutrition Canada shifted its food ingredient mix toward value-added applications and doubled total food sales revenue in North America over three years.

Situation

Ocean Nutrition Canada had an established ingredient business in North America.

Challenge

Growth had plateaued at commodity-level margins. The opportunity was to shift the mix toward higher-value, branded applications inside consumer packaged goods rather than sell more of the same.

Actions

→Repositioned the portfolio toward value-added applications rather than chasing volume in commodity channels.
→Negotiated co-branding licensing agreements with consumer packaged goods companies, putting the ingredient on-pack.
→Led a cross-functional matrix team across R&D, regulatory, sales, and marketing, aligning groups that had previously operated in parallel.
→Set the performance culture so results, not just activity, drove the metrics that mattered.

Results

→Doubled total food sales revenue in North America over three years.
→Grew value-added sales volume by 82%.
→Multiple co-branding agreements signed with CPG partners.
→Business positioned as a key asset in the eventual acquisition by DSM.

Doubling revenue while shifting 82% toward value-added is a different story from simply selling more of a flat product line. The second one is what makes a business acquirable.