Sacramento-based organic food delivery service Trifecta Inc. has restructured some of its manufacturing operations, and cut eight employees' jobs.
The recent move follows a layoff of 10 employees in July, a change from the past two years when the company was growing quickly.
“Yes, it was very sad. We consider our team family, and they were all great people,” said co-founder and CEO Greg Connolly, via email.
At the end of 2021, the company had 105 employees.
Trifecta in recent months has also changed its supply chain. It previously had its meals prepared by a single contract manufacturer in the Los Angeles area.
“To combat stubborn inflation and higher shipping and food input costs, we decentralized our supply chain so we now have several large-scale kitchens nationwide, (versus) everything shipping from California,” Connolly said.
During that transition, the company had some supply chain delays, he said. Connolly said most everything is back to normal now.
He said two-thirds of Trifecta customers are east of Texas, so it didn’t make sense to ship complete meals across the country.
“Our headquarters will continue to remain in Sacramento,” he said, adding that over the years, the company has had many different supply chain partners, and those change over time depending on pricing, shipping lead times and other issues.
Trifecta designs and ships complete cooked and vacuum-packed meals nationwide for fitness-minded consumers and people with special diets. It markets its meals for athletes and fitness buffs, and it has partnerships with sports leagues and competitions.
In August 2021, Trifecta raised $20 million in funding from investors led by Boston-based venture capital firm Spring Lake Equity Partners.
The growing meal delivery company ranked fourth on the Business Journal's Fastest Growing Companies list in 2021, with about $77 million in 2020 revenue. It made the Fastest Growing Companies list again this year, in 20th place, with $97.7 million in revenue in 2021 and growth of 137.5% over three years.
In April, Trifecta got tentative approval for a $6.75 million grant from the California Competes Tax Credit. The tax credit is one of the state’s economic incentives to support growing companies. It's administered through the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as GO-Biz.
In its grant proposal, Trifecta said it planned a net increase of its employee number to a total of 479 by the end of the 2026 tax year. The company also proposed to make investments over that time of $1.5 million.
The state does not pay companies under the California Competes program. Rather, the state forgives taxes to the specified amount if the companies meet hiring and investment goals over time.
Trifecta allows customers to choose from a menu of meals for a variety of specific diets, such as keto, paleo, vegan, vegetarian, clean eating and classic.
The company was founded in 2015. Since 2016, it's formed strategic partnerships with sports leagues and entities, including CrossFit LLC, F45 Training, the American Heart Association, Spartan Race Inc., Team USA Weightlifting and the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding contest.
