Local Datilgator maker plans to start selling millions of units at Walmart (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — In just four years, Jacksonville entrepreneurs Zack and Lauren Glenn of the Glenn Food Company have grown from local makers with their Datilgator seasoning on just a few mom-and-pop grocery shelves in 2020 to three brands on shelves in over 300 Publix stores across the Southeast.
With a September win for Glenn Food Co. at Walmart’s 2024 Open Call, the company’s as-yet-unlaunched fourth spice blend, Merman’s Revenge seafood seasoning, is set for a spring/summer 2025 launch at over 2,500 Walmart stores.
“It’s the difference of stocking tens of thousands of units at Publix to now literally millions with Walmart, so we’re really excited about it,” Zack Glenn told the Business Journal.
The keys to earning the world’s largest retailer’s “Golden Ticket” were the same factors that have allowed the local food manufacturer to produce such a robust business: preparation and a quality product that features regional flavors.
“We’ve been preparing to scale to be able to pitch to Walmart for the last two years,” Lauren Glenn told the Business Journal. “We didn’t want to pitch to them and not be ready. We really understood everything that entailed getting a deal like this.”
Walmart press indicates that the company held over 800 meetings at its Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters with Open Call finalists from across 48 states with over four dozen companies earning Golden Tickets.
The mega retailer said that the program supports the creation of over 750,000 jobs. Eighty-five of those new jobs will be at or supporting Glenn Food.
Glenn Food Co. has its administrative offices and storage in south Jacksonville and currently contracts with three Florida manufacturers. In order to ramp up to launch Merman’s Revenge, the company will work with additional facilities that already supply Walmart.
“They are very familiar with the workload and all the little things you can imagine: delivering products on time, making sure labels are on right, making sure case labels are right, making sure there’s the right number of cases on the palette… so many little details that a lot of manufacturers don’t understand because they haven’t worked at this level,” Zack Glenn said.
The Glenns sought this award not only to bring their business to the next level, but as Walmart shoppers who believe in the business.
This belief was reinforced at the Open Call, where they learned that over two-thirds of Walmart products are American-sourced. As a locally sourced flavor, Merman’s Revenge fit neatly into that slot and stood out as a niche product.
Old Bay is the most well-known seafood spice blend, but that has a more of an old school Northeastern taste. With Merman, the Glenns created a line of seafood seasonings and sauces entirely geared toward current tastes with a Southern twist.
“It’s fresh and new and a little bit more current. It’s fresh from Florida products — Florida lime, Florida oranges, Florida lemon…” Lauren Glenn said.
Walmart looks specifically for food assembled in the United States that shows a flair for creating value for its community. It was here, with its passion for the First Coast, that Glenn Food excelled.
“I’m a Jacksonville hometown girl. I could eat seafood three times a day, seven days a week. I love the idea of being a second generation business owner, and I love the idea of having a business here, of being able to create jobs here, of using local ingredients whenever we can, and being able to put money back into the local economy,” Lauren Glenn said.
While Merman’s Revenge won’t arrive until 2025, Datilgator and Pizza Monstah spices are available at local grocers and, along with Delightfully Hot sauce kits, available online at Glenn Food Company and Amazon websites.