Next in Natural
Dedicated team and award-winning experience uniting emerging brands with pioneer business partners to create mutualistic success
is a Boutique, Strategic Business Development, Marketing, Operating and International Trading Company dedicated to scaling select emerging natural and organic food and beverage companies to build a vibrant future.
100+
YEARS OF COMBINED EXPERIENCE
5000+
YEARS OF COMBINED EXPERIENCE
8320
VISITED ACCOUNTS ANUALLY
Billions
IN INCREMENTAL SALES GENERATED THROUGHOUT OUR CAREERS
Boutique
We are highly selective, working with only innovative mission-driven producer partners with a like-minded mutualistic culture and sustainability focused approach
Strategic Brand Development
We apply over 100 years of collective natural and organic emerging brand CPG engineering and scaling experience to transform new companies into successful organizations and established successful organizations into global category leaders.
Business Development & Marketing
Our Business Development and Marketing teams work directly with key influential buyers in concert with our representation network to create fiscally sound strategies that generate excitement, gain customers, drive trial and earn consumer loyalty.
Ecosystem
We have the highest reverence for all the good people in the world and apply The Golden Rule in all interactions with our Team, Customers, Producer Partners, Farmers, Community, Stakeholders and Mother Earth.category leaders.
a venture studio hybrid
We invest intellectual equity and working capital in early phase Natural and Organic Food & Beverage entrepreneurs.
PLANT BASED
ORGANIC
PLANT FORWARD
OMNIVORE FRIENDLY
SUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEM
Our team has 100+ years of combined experience vetting and propelling startups into category leaders.
HEALTHY LIVING. MISSION DRIVEN.
Our mission is to make the world a better, more sustainable place by raising the bar of our food and beverage landscape. We are driven to improve our planet by supporting a diverse range of entrepreneurs in developing transformative, profitable,
and mission-driven organizations.
Meet the Leadership Team
Jeff founded Gourmet Guru, NYC’s
first all-natural & organic CPG Incubator / Distributor. Guru became known as “the new company company” with Jeff co-writing the go-to-market strategies and/or business plans for small USA startups such as Chobani, Stumptown, and Hu and helped them launch and scale to become category leaders. Jeff later joined forces with UNFI to morph Guru into UNFI Next. Find out more at
Jeff enjoys his family time, kayaking, hoops, charitable endeavors and supporting
sustainable agriculture.
Jeff Lichtenstein
Chief Executive Officer
Shaynne Ricarte
Shaynne holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology, with 15+ years of professional working experience in team training & recruitment, telemarketing, data entry/ proofreading, research, basic SEO and social media management.
She is highly skilled in Customer Service & Technical support and has worked in Quality Assurance, focusing on in-depth root-cause data analysis & reporting. At Next in Natural, she is leading day-to-day operations and provide insights via data analytics.
Operations Team Leader
Curt has dedicated 20+ years
of national progressive experience driving
revenue growth and profitability in the
Consumer Packaged Goods industry. He has held several key sales and marketing roles with large Billion dollar companies as well as smaller Organic, Natural & Plant-based start-ups. He has strong relationships with retailers/brokers/C-stores/and Foodservice customers and is considered a great teammate learned from his years of playing College Football for Andy Reid, head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. He is very much a family man and enjoys spending time with his kids, as well as his
extended family and friends. He is
very active, enjoying spearfishing,
golfing, hiking, and ranching.
Curt Bellar
Chief Business Developement Officer
Gregory is a graduate with a
bachelor’s degree in Business Administration majoring in Marketing Management and has an extensive experience in customer relations management and team training. As a Product and Process Trainer, he has led top brands to their success in customer service, customer experience, technical support, and sales.
As a marketer, he is passionate about content creation, branding, customer engagement, and digital marketing in social media.
At Next in Natural, he leads sales/ marketing promotions, trade marketing plans,
and R&D.
Gregory Márzon
Marketing Lead
Entrepreneurship Creating Social and Eco Impact
We mentor and invest in an inclusive talent pool of entrepreneurs to better the next generation by empowering them to make healthy food and beverage choices. We have been widely recognized for supporting this mission: examples include receiving a New York City Business of the Year Award from Mayor Bloomberg, being named an Inner City 100 Business of the Year from Harvard University's Michael Porter, SBA family Business of the Year and being visited by British Parliamentary Members to learn how to best create great career opportunities in underserved communities.
Get in touch
Global Headquarters
240 Kent Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11249
Tel: +1 (718) 757-8569
Creating winning organizations within the sustainable food landscape for a better tomorrow.