Jack Acree

Jack Acree was one of the earliest members of the team to join the Journey to Better. Jack strongly feels that Saffron Road offers a unique opportunity for a brand that not only appeals to those consumers whose spiritual principles guide their dietary needs, but also a brand that stands for good stewardship of the planet. Today he is the architect of the company’s brand who is tireless in finding just the right name for every offering.

Mr. Acree is an accomplished food executive, having successfully built two of the fastest growing startups in the natural foods business which now deliver well over $50 million in sales – Terra Chips® (Hain Foods) and Alexia Foods® (ConAgra Foods). He brings an aggressive and adaptive approach to their marketing and sales efforts due to his extensive experience with both direct customer and broker management for multiple channels of trade, including natural foods supermarkets (both direct and through natural channels), super centers, route service, foodservice and club.

Jack was at Alexia Foods from inception as Director of Sales. His team built Alexia’s sales to over $75 million today with over 26 SKU’s. Alexia Food was sold to ConAgra Foods in 2007. While at Alexia in 2002, Jack was able to immediately secure shelf space and for this start-up brand into 5,000 stores – in such top-tier chains as Whole Foods, Publix, Stop & Shop, Shoprite, Shaw’s, Wegmans, and Wal-Mart. Jack also grew Alexia’s business at Wal-Mart from 88 initial stores in 2002 to over 1,800 stores in 3 years time. At Terra Chips, Jack was part of the original founding member executive team. He grew sales from inception at Terra Chips to over $5 Million. For Terra, Jack built and scaled five broad channels of distribution for this niche start up: independent routes, gourmet shops natural stores, supermarket chains and food service (hotels, restaurants). Today, Terra Chips is owned by Hain foods and generates over $60 Million in sales.