It’s been a busy first quarter for St. Louis-based RIBUS, Inc., the global leader in GMO-free and organic rice-based alternatives to synthetic ingredients. The company added two new managers, and garnered the Engredea Editors’ Choice Award for Best Organic Ingredient and a “NEXTY” nomination at the Natural Product Expo West show.
In addition, RIBUS’ enjoyed strong sales with business growing rapidly from 2012-2014 with double digit sales growth each year, and with organic products increasing from approximately 35 percent to over 50 percent of total sales. RIBUS anticipates increased growth in 2015 as organic producers renew their organic certification and remove silicon dioxide (SiO2) from their ingredients given that, effective November 2014, organic products cannot use SiO2 so long as ingredients made from organic rice hulls are commercially available.
“We are excited to see the tremendous growth in interest in ‘clean labels,’ and are proud to offer a range of products to fit the industry’s needs, whether that’s in supplements, extrusion, or sauces,” says Steve Peirce, RIBUS President.
First, RIBUS hired two new staff:
- Laurie Wittenbrink, Global Marketing Manager – With a background in strategic communications and an ad agency career, Laurie has created successful campaigns that range from traditional advertising to promotional to digital, as well as brand launches for her clients. She has experience in the food and beverage category working on national clients such as Balance Bar, Pure Protein, and the MillerCoors portfolio. A natural communicator with a passion for marketing, she brings experience along with a young point of view to the future of RIBUS. Laurie will manage all marketing efforts globally for RIBUS.
- Lisa Harter, Global Business Development – Lisa has an extensive background in agricultural crop production, spending the majority of her career with DuPont Crop Protection. She then moved to DuPont Nutrition, holding positions in soy protein sales for the U.S. and Canada, business development, and global strategic planning, and earned her Certified Six Sigma Black Belt. Lisa’s experience and passion for the food industry make her uniquely qualified to lead RIBUS’ global dietary supplement group, and to manage its broker and distributor network in 23 countries.
Then, at the Natural Products Expo West, RIBUS’s Nu-FLOW was nominated as the Engredea Editors’ Choice Award for Best Organic Ingredient of the show. Engredea states: “Nu-FLOW is the clean, organic solution to silicon dioxide – that dreaded, non-nutritive flow agent used in many supplements and which can now be eliminated from the National Organic List because a natural and organic substitute is available. Made from simple organic rice hulls that are sterilized and ground into a fine powder, Nu-FLOW makes labeling supplements as organic a whole lot easier.”
Engredea also recognized RIBUS with a “NEXTY” nomination recognizing RIBUS as a company that “embodies not only the most innovative edge of the natural products industry, but also its deeply held social and environmental values.”
Next up? RIBUS will also be speaking and/or exhibiting at the following events:
- Clean Label Food Conference – Chicago, IL. April 1. (Technology Snapshot speaker)
- VitaFoods Europe – Geneva, May 5-7.
- IFT – Chicago, IL. July 11-14.
- Supply Side West – Las Vegas, NV. October 5-9.
