A senior executive with more than 25 years of experience in management, strategic planning, and operational implementation Guy Ironi and his partner Josh Abramson were called to turn around a beverage manufacturer producing cold press juices using high-pressure processing technology. He soon understood the process was very labor-intensive and challenging to perform at a profitable level. However, Guy quickly identified that the business was exceptional at picking, packing, and shipping the juices directly to its clients’ customers.
On behalf of the family office that invested in the founding leadership team, Guy took over NutriFresh Services as its CEO in 2016 and pivoted the organization from a contract beverage manufacturer to the industry’s best perishable fulfillment partner for B2C and B2B eCommerce companies. Since Guy’s takeover, the company has achieved more than 100% YoY revenue growth for past 4 consecutive years and achieved nearly 30X earnings growth. NutriFresh was recently included as one of Inc. Magazine’s “2021’s 5,000 Fastest Growing Companies” and named by Goldman Sachs as one of the “100 Most Intriguing Companies” for 2021.
The Leading Perishable Fulfillment Platform
Headquartered in Edison, NJ with 11 additional nationwide facilities, NutriFresh is the leading cold chain eCommerce logistics partner for established and emerging B2C and B2B food and beverage brands. The organization’s portfolio of services includes frozen and cold storage, white-glove pick and pack services, and industry-leading carrier optimization allowing 1-day ground transit to more than 85% of the country.
Guy and his team at NutriFresh believe that shipping perishable goods doesn’t need to be complicated or costly. The organization acts as an extension of their clients’ business operations department to ensure their cold and frozen products are delivered to their customers on-time and at-temp, improving their bottom lines.
The NutriFresh team also realizes the fact that batching and shipping alone doesn’t solve all of its clients’ primary pain points. So, the organization now offers a completely personalized and comprehensive approach to ensure the products reach their customers in a much faster, easier, and cost-efficient manner.
Staying Ahead of the Competition
Under Guy’s leadership, NutriFresh helps its customers with a tech-enabled, all-in-one eCommerce fulfillment platform that allows brands to quickly deploy a national fulfillment program at a scale. According to Guy, “In this new and rapidly changing on-demand world, we allow businesses to access highly-customizable operations and flexible, bespoke shipping solutions based on their specific needs across delivery performance, the efficiency of spend, and integrated technology requirements.”
As an organization, NutriFresh is well positioned in the market of perishable eCommerce fulfillment for food and beverage brands. While most of its consumers are focused on the B2C market, NutriFresh has started working with companies selling and shipping wholesale products directly to businesses.
Unlike traditional 3PL businesses, NutriFresh welcomes the complexities of perishable fulfillment by handling custom packaging, complex kitting and pick arrays, and inserting dry ice or gel packs to keep products at safe temperatures during transit. The NutriFresh value proposition includes a sophisticated technology platform that allows its partners to access entirely outsourced fulfillment and operations solutions. Beyond its strategically distributed national perishable fulfillment centers, another core advantage for NutriFresh’s customers is access to enterprise-level shipping services across various national and regional parcel carriers.
Tackling Challenges
The fundamental challenge of NutriFresh’s core activity lies with the perishability factor of food and food waste. Every year ⅓ of the food produced in the world perishes before consumption, which if calculated equates to 1.3 billion tons, resulting in more atmospheric carbon emissions than the entire airline industry. In proper conditions, this amount of food could feed as many as 2 billion people, twice the number of people suffering from hunger across the planet.
The organization is doing its part to solve this worldwide challenge. Its High-Pressure Processing (HPP) extends shelf-life through a non-thermal process that eliminates contamination. NutriFresh has an annual tolling capacity of 120 million pounds, thanks to its dedicated hyperbaric HPP machines.
Additionally, the organization enables a much greener and environmentally friendly emissions footprint by creating a more efficient supply chain, which is done by decreasing the distance a product needs to travel. In the NutriFresh supply chain, manufactured products are directly sent to one of its fulfillment centers directly from the manufacturer. Then the organization distributes those products across its network of fulfillment centers to be stored as close as possible to the final customer. When an eCommerce order is placed, NutriFresh packs each perishable parcel with care and delivers to the end consumer on behalf of their clients.
Guy also notes: “We use solar power in our freezer facilities, we ship with dry ice (which never produces or releases additional carbon dioxide into the environment) and gel packs to reduce spoilage during transit. The future of commerce is online, and NutriFresh is committed to providing our customers with the most sustainable, environmentally-conscious perishable fulfillment solution in the market.”
Preparing for the Future
When it comes to the future, NutriFresh aims to maintain its position as the leader in the cold and frozen eCommerce fulfillment industry, while continuing its transformation into the most advanced solution via disruptive logistics technology. To achieve that, Guy and his team will continue to expand NutriFresh’s warehouse network by acquiring new facilities, investing in tech R&D, and developing its personalized approach even further to give its clients the feeling of joining an elite supply chain crew and long-term partner.
