Ancient Crunch, the parent company behind the MASA and Vandy better-for-you snack brands, is going nationwide at Whole Foods Market this August after a test run across 93 locations earlier this year. The rollout pushes the company's total U.S. door count past 3,000, adding Whole Foods to an existing roster that includes Target, Sprouts, Erewhon, The Fresh Market, and Amazon.
The expansion follows rising consumer demand for seed-oil-free, traditionally prepared snacks — a segment that has drawn growing shelf space from natural and conventional grocers alike. MASA chips are made from organic, nixtamalized corn cooked in 100% grass-fed beef tallow; Vandy applies the same no-seed-oil philosophy to kettle-style potato chips. Both lines ship to Whole Foods in their core SKUs: MASA in Original and Lime, Vandy in Original and French Onion.
New Leadership Bench
To support the velocity, Ancient Crunch has appointed two senior executives. Al Matulis joins as Head of Retail, bringing more than 20 years of consumer-brand scaling across natural, mass, e-commerce, and club channels, with prior stints at Kimberly-Clark, Kellogg's, Kernel Season's, and Quinn Snacks. Greg Reintjes Jr. comes aboard as Chief Marketing Officer; he most recently served as SVP and Head of Marketing at LALO Spirits, where he helped build the brand ahead of its acquisition by Tito's Handmade Vodka, and previously held commercial strategy roles at Beam Suntory.
"I am excited by the opportunity to help lead Ancient Crunch's evolution from a DTC-driven business to an omnichannel focused house of beloved better-for-you brands," Matulis said. Reintjes framed the hire in category terms: "Consumers are demanding high-quality food made from natural ingredients. I am honored to build the brands that meet that demand."
Channel Implications
The better-for-you snack segment has become a meaningful traffic driver across specialty and natural grocery, and the seed-oil-free niche in particular has attracted attention from snack buyers looking for differentiated, on-trend offerings. For convenience operators tracking the better-for-you snack trend, Ancient Crunch's rapid door expansion — from a direct-to-consumer base to 3,000-plus brick-and-mortar locations in roughly two years — signals that velocity data from natural grocery could eventually open conversations with convenience and impulse-channel buyers. Co-founders Seth Goldstein and Steven Rofrano described the Whole Foods rollout as "an exciting milestone" while signaling further national expansion ahead. The hiring of executives with Fortune 100 and omnichannel backgrounds suggests the company is building infrastructure for a broader trade push, not just a natural-channel play.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
