Despite struggling to secure employment in the U.S., a New Zealander turned to selling homemade snacks and is now projected to generate $10 million in revenue this year.

In 2017, Rebecca Brady sold one box of her homemade seed crackers at a farmer's market in Buffalo, New York.

"I remember saying, 'Let's double our target. Let's go for two!' after selling our first box," says Brady, the 50-year-old founder and CEO of snack company Top Seedz. "I wasn't very confident."

In seven years, the New Zealand native and mother of three has transformed Top Seedz from a small and outdated $400-a-month commissary space into a nationwide brand that's sold in over 4,000 stores across the country, including major chains like Wegmans, Whole Foods, Giant, and Erewhon.

According to CNBC Make It, Top Seedz generated $5 million in revenue last year and is projected to surpass $10 million in revenue this year, as stated by Brady.

Brady has positioned herself to help vulnerable members of her community by providing support to the 44-person Top Seedz workforce, which is composed of 90% refugees, mostly women, from approximately 20 different countries. The company offers English-language training, a mother's room, and a prayer room to help employees adapt to their new environment.

"Although I am not a refugee, I felt like a newcomer in Buffalo. Nonetheless, I understand how challenging it is to adapt to a new environment and struggle to find employment," she remarks.

'Maybe I'll give this a try'

Brady's 10-year gap in her resume resulted in the creation of the company, as she moved to Japan in 2005 to support her husband Will's job at aerospace company Moog but couldn't obtain a work visa. Today, Will is the chief operating officer at Top Seedz.

Brady, a former Hewlett-Packard marketer, spent her time raising her three kids and recreating homemade snacks she missed from her home country.

Since relocating to the U.S. in 2015, she obtained her work visa but faced challenges in securing employment. She formed friendships through tennis and observed how much her companions enjoyed her homemade seed crackers during matches. With her children attending school, she decided to pursue her hunch that American consumers might be interested in her homemade seed crackers.

She had always been interested in entrepreneurship but "never had the courage to take the first step," she admits. "I was like, 'Maybe I'll give it a try.' It was really just due to people's reactions to [the crackers] and their disappointment when I didn't bring them to [tennis] practice."

Brady invested $5,000 from her family's savings to start her cracker business, spending only on essentials such as ingredients, packaging, and a branding consultant. She found an old, low-end commissary kitchen that allowed her to produce 10 to 20 boxes of crackers per hour, despite the malfunctioning oven timers causing some batches to burn.

Her lack of experience made her "very, very conservative" when it came to spending. She didn't even think to build a Top Seedz website. "I was very conscious of the thought that I might just be wasting money," she says. "I wasn't very confident that it was going to work."

During her first year in business, Brady sold approximately 20 boxes per week at the Buffalo farmers' market, which was more than enough to generate a profit. She also successfully convinced local food markets and co-ops to stock Top Seedz, and eventually landed a coveted spot on the shelves at Wegmans.

"When you enter Wegmans, it's a serious experience. You can share your excitement with others, and they will start paying attention," Brady says.

Building an immigrant workforce

Brady, a foreigner in a new country, was grateful for the time and resources she had to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams as Top Seedz grew. She wanted to share her success and give back to the Buffalo community that welcomed her.

Brady says that since one of her friends volunteered for Journey's End Refugee Services, Top Seedz has been filling jobs around the warehouse with refugees, training them on the company's baking and packaging equipment.

Some employees are learning English at the same time, which Brady claims has resulted in a steep learning curve for many when they first arrive. As a result, we frequently play charades in our building, but our words are "mixer" and "oven."

In 2022, Top Seedz experienced a sales increase due to an unexpected source: Gwyneth Paltrow, an actress and lifestyle influencer, publicly endorsed the company's snacks on social media. The initial post caught Brady and her marketing team off guard, according to her.

"Brady exclaims, "As it becomes increasingly clear that Gwyneth Paltrow is endorsing our products and promoting them to her vast audience, we can't help but feel a sense of excitement.""

The market for seed crackers in the U.S. is expected to reach $2 billion in the next ten years, with brands such as Back to Nature, owned by Barilla, and Crunchmaster leading the way. Additionally, large corporations like Mondelez produce vegan and gluten-free products, including their Good Thins brand.

Brady is confident that there is still ample space in the sizable market for Top Seedz to continue expanding. The company is currently moving into a new, 35,000-square-foot facility in downtown Buffalo, which will produce 16,000 boxes of crackers in approximately four hours, a significant increase from the recent production that took nearly two days.

She aims to increase her product offerings and reach, with Canada and Brady's homeland being potential targets. "My mom will murder me if we don't make it to New Zealand," she declares. "She's already marketed the entire country."

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