Catalina Crunch, a zero-sugar brand in the cereal category, recently enhanced its executive leadership team with the hiring of Andy Van Ark as its new chief marketing officer. Andy joins Catalina Crunch after having recently led the sales and marketing efforts for Red’s All Natural. Under Andy’s leadership, Red’s grew its brand presence significantly, leading to an acquisition of the brand by private investment firm Bansk Group.
“We are extremely fortunate to have Andy join us in the newly developed role of Chief Marketing Officer,” stated Joel Warady, president of Catalina Snacks. “Our marketing team has done a great job over the past few years growing the Catalina Crunch brand to its current category leading status. With Andy’s expertise and creative thinking, along with the extensive data gathering tools that we have developed, we are certain we will continue to dominate the categories in which we participate.”
Catalina Crunch, having launched as a DTC exclusive brand in 2019, is now sold in over 20,000 stores throughout the US and continues to be the driving force in the once-stagnant cereal category’s growth. While other brands continue to play catch-up when it comes to on-shelf presence, Catalina enjoys wide-spread distribution in food, mass, and natural channels. With additional pack sizes being introduced, the product line is now gaining wide acceptance in convenience stores, food service, and airport locations.
“The consumer’s passion and acceptance of our product line has been humbling,” offered Krishna Kaliannan, the CEO/founder of Catalina Crunch. “Not only do our consumers love our cereal, but they have accepted our additional categories of Low-Sugar Sandwich Cookies and Keto-Friendly Snack Mixes with open arms. We continue to see pent-up consumer demand as illustrated by the success of our new Limited Edition flavors of cereal, cookies and snack mix that continuously surpass all velocity goals.”
“I am excited to be joining the great team at Catalina Crunch,” notes Van Ark. “Catalina Crunch is driving unprecedented growth through innovative product launches that are disrupting stagnant categories. I look forward to bringing my experience to Catalina Crunch and taking the brand to the next level.”
The Catalina Crunch brand had a record-breaking year in 2022, having gained over 46,000 points of distribution in the 3 categories in which its products live. Adding to its success, Catalina Crunch will be introducing a new product line at the upcoming Natural Products Expo West in March.
“With our current distribution momentum, our on-going digital, television and out-of-home advertising, the introduction of our upcoming new product line, and the addition of Andy Van Ark in the CMO role, we look forward to delivering another record setting year in 2023,” Warady shared enthusiastically.
