An Update From Mark

By Joann Chang July 17, 2023 3 mins read 148 Views

I’ve been seeing a lot of skeptical or downright hostile comments about the Kraft Heinz acquisition of Primal Kitchen and my involvement in the company on ads, Instagram posts, and comment sections.

Look, I understand the skepticism, but I want you to know that the decision to partner with Kraft Heinz was not one I took lightly. I wanted to grow Primal Kitchen, but only by working with a company that would fully support the Primal Kitchen mission. While there was no guarantee how things would turn out, almost five years later, I can confidently say partnering with Kraft Heinz for growth has been overwhelmingly positive. Our partners believe in our mission and have given us the tools to bring Primal Kitchen into millions of homes.

You can now find us in retailers such as Costco, Walmart, Publix, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Target all over the country now in addition to Whole Foods Market and natural health stores. We are reaching more people in more places, which is actually how I believe we can successfully change the food landscape.

Despite all that, Primal Kitchen remains autonomous. We decide what we do, what we produce, how we market, and what we sell. We just have the support and scale to opt into the Primal Kitchen nutritional philosophy.

In fact, we’ve had almost the exact same team for the 4 1/2 years since we sold Primal Kitchen, only we’ve added even more talent. The core team remains, including myself and Morgan, my co-founder. As the founder, I am still involved in product creation, research and development, and ingredient and quality oversight. Our commitment to using high-quality Primal-approved ingredients hasn’t changed one iota and never will as long as I’m involved.

For these reasons, Primal Kitchen is probably the greatest success story in recent food and beverage acquisitions. We continue to grow every year, we maintain the same team that got us here, and with your help we continue to elevate the quality of food and ingredients on grocery shelves across America.

The best part for me is that instead of worrying about hiring and the day-to-day of running a company, I can focus on the fun parts, the stuff that got me interested in starting a food company in the first place: developing new recipes and trialing new ingredients. Actually, that’s also the best part for you all, because that’s where I shine—coming up with great new additions to the lineup.

I’ve also been able to expand into other arenas and focus on growing as a person. The hardest part of a startup is getting started and making it viable. Just like how once you get past the newborn years parenting opens up a bit and starts getting a bit more free and clear, once you know your business is going to succeed is when you can really start to grow.

I’ve got my new shoe company, Peluva I founded with my son, Kyle. I’m a grandpa twice over now. I get to spend more time with my wife and family. My marriage has never been stronger. And in turn, I’m more committed than ever to fulfilling the ultimate mission of Primal Kitchen. All these things are possible because of each other. They all feed into one another.

On a general note, I’d caution against letting skepticism graduate to cynicism. That’s when pessimism wins and the world turns against you. That’s when your luck runs out. I don’t have a real explanation for why this happens, but I just know that it happens. Seen it a hundred times in my life in dozens of people I’ve known over the years.

Now that I’ve got you here, I’d love to know what you want to see from Primal Kitchen. Anything, lay it on me. What’s working for you, what isn’t? What new products do you think we should be putting out?

As always, thanks for helping us change the way the world eats.