The Griffin Report of the Northeast is pleased to honor...
Calli Brannan Flashfood Head of Customer Success
Calli Brannan has worked in the food insecurity and food waste reduction space for a decade. In her current role, Calli owns the relationships with customers in Flashfood’s two-sided marketplace – retail partners and shoppers on the consumer app. Calli joined Flashfood three years ago and was a critical member of a growing team that has built the company’s retail presence to more than 2,200 stores in North America. She was one of the earliest U.S. hires and worked up to a leadership role, driving growth and momentum with
Ted Breitowich JOH SVP of Specialty
With more than 30 years of dedicated service to the retail food industry, Ted Breitowich has consistently demonstrated his commitment and expertise. He began his career at age 14 as a part-time grocery clerk and bagger, earning early recognition for his hard work. Ted’s
Tess Fox Flashfood Director of Retail and Brand Marketing
In her role, Tess Fox manages the external brand of Flashfood, an app for deals on groceries, and its retail marketing and brand activities. Shortly after arriving at the company, Tess undertook a massive project – creating a new visual identity for the young organization, one that could take space in a more contemporary way. The new brand positioned Flashfood for exponential growth, shaping it around what drives sales. The company had recently determined Flashfood was not just a path to reduce food waste for retailers; the app
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Flashfood’s first and largest U.S.-based customer, Midwestbased Meijer. Under Calli’s leadership, Meijer is the first Flashfood retailer to reach the 10 million pounds diverted milestone and the first retailer to launch SNAP EBT as a payment capability, a critical capability that makes a meaningful impact on the lives of lower-income shoppers. This program has seen tremendous success. In 2023, more than 16,000 shoppers used their SNAP EBT cards to pay for groceries on Flashfood at Meijer, saving nearly $400,000. More recently, under Calli’s leadership, Flashfood launched a new platform, Flashfood for Independents, designed to meet the needs of independently owned grocery stores. This enables Flashfood to expand geographically to urban centers and rural communities, bringing Flashfood’s affordable grocery platform into areas that need it most.
Calli’s passion for creating a better future was developed early in her career, as the founder of Detroit-based One More Meal, a nonprofit taking leftover food from high school cafeterias, repackaging it and sending it home with students and families at the end of the day. Calli founded the nonprofit after conducting a food waste study at five schools in her county and introduced the initiative as a pilot program. This is an early example of Calli’s eye for innovative solutions driving positive change. Prior to Flashfood, Calli served as a community nutrition program instructor at Michigan State University Extension and as a board member at the Detroit Food Policy Council. Calli has a bachelor’s degree from Kalamazoo College, where she was a founding member of the school’s Food Recovery Network chapter.
career has spanned roles in supermarkets and distributors. For the past 22 years, he has excelled as a food broker, joining the family in 2015 when his company was acquired by JOH. As VP of specialty in the metro and mid-Atlantic regions, Ted significantly grew the division, adding more than 25 associates and tripling its size. In his current role, he continues to drive success by onboarding new clients, introducing product lines and increasing sales for clients and customers. Ted is respected for his versatile leadership and willingness to share his industry knowledge with colleagues
and other rising leaders. He has built one of the most effective specialty food broker teams in the Northeast, known for its excellence and dedication. His passion for growing JOH’s clients and customers is evident in everything he does. Beyond his professional achievements, Ted is committed to giving back to his community. He supports charities such as Ronald McDonald House, which provided support to his family, and The Roots of Music, an organization that empowers youth through music, support and mentorship by providing instruments and lessons.
delighted shoppers, offering them a way to access fresh, nutritious food at more affordable prices. The goal of the rebrand was to reflect this joy and reposition buying discounted food as food in its Goldilocks window (the right price at the right time) and build this into the next consumer trend in food. Tess undertook this massive project to develop and launch the new brand in less than a year. Prior to joining Flashfood, Tess served as consumer engagement manager for Campbell Soup Co. She led crossfunctional teams and oversaw agency partners to guide the development of consumer-first activations including strategic planning, creative development, partnerships, paid advertising and optimization for brands such as Campbell’s Chunky, Swanson, Pace Salsa, Well Yes! Soup and SpaghettiOs. During this time Tess led Chunky’s first-ever national
limited-time-offer of Ghost Pepper Soup, launching a custom DTC microsite, influencer program and special merchandise that resulted in more than 800 million earned media impressions, over 50,000 email opt-ins and a twominute product sellout. Before Campbell’s, Tess spent five years at Dietz & Watson as senior advertising and media manager, where she supervised all national and regional marketing initiatives, including traditional, digital, social, trade, experiential and sponsorships. In this role, she executed the development and launch of the marketing campaign for the new snacking product, “Dietz Nuts,” which became an internet sensation. In her spare time, Tess has volunteered at Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey and participated in the Campbell’s program with nonprofit Cathedral Kitchen in Camden, New Jersey.