New Sales Team Hire: Western Regional Sales Manager, Todd Tolboe

Stamford, CT- May 2, 2010 – Todd Tolboe joined the American Halal/Saffron Road team today as the Western Regional Sales Manager.  With over 20 years in the specialty gourmet and ethnic food industry, Todd has a proven track record of success with leading food giants like Kraft Foods and Hain Celestial, as well as top natural food brands such as Annie Chun’s, Tasty Bite, and Nest-Collective. Most recently he was Director of Sales, Western Region, at Nest-Collective –  the parent company of the brands Plum Organics and Revolution Foods, which are focused on organic baby, toddler and kids foods, with strong distribution and shelf presence in some of America’s top retail chains, such as Whole Foods, Wegmans, Target, Babies R Us and online store Amazon.com. During Todd’s one year tenure at Nest, their total sales increased by over 75%, with Todd’s expanding national distribution for 8 new items into 11 new retail store chains encompassing over 2,000 new stores in only 3 months.

Before Nest-Collective, Todd was the Director of Sales for Annie Chun’s, the premium and all natural Asian entrees, soups, noodle brand. While at Annie Chun’s, he directed sales of their natural soup and all natural noodle segments as well as rolling out their new frozen entrée product line in 2009, exceeding forecasted sales by 45%. Prior to Annie Chun’s, Todd was the National Sales Manager for Tasty Bite, the leading shelf stable Indian entree brand in the U.S. Todd oversaw the launch of over 18 new products for Tasty Bite and secured national distribution in over 5,000 retail stores. Under his sales leadership, Tasty Bite grew over 110% in multiple channels of trade, including Costco, Kroger, Whole Foods Market, Harris Teeter, etc.

CEO of American Halal, Adnan Durrani, commented by saying, “We are thrilled to welcome a superstar like Todd to Saffron Road – he solidifies our management’s Dream Team.”

And Jack Acree EVP stated, “I couldn’t be more excited to have Todd on board. His experience, enthusiasm, and professionalism will help the Saffron Road team to build on the tremendous momentum we’ve built,” and Todd said, “I couldn’t be more excited to join Adnan and Jack. They are industry icons, and have developed some of the highest premium natural products available. Our team at Saffron Road is bringing a premium product with many sought after attributes to the consumer. Look for us to grow in a store near you.”