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Welcome
Though I have travelled extensively throughout the world and lived in California, North Carolina, and Florida, I am a native New Yorker. New York is my home and the best place I know to be, especially while working in the supplement business. I am a proud father and grandfather and have been blessed to be with my wife for over thirty years. I am an avid traveler and sports fan and have interests in a variety of fields. Having started my first company at a young age, I have learned, lost, and gained my way through business to become the nutraceutical industry’s trailblazer. Years after selling my first company, I decided to return to the industry because I knew I could do it better. With a small team of highly experienced individuals, we recruited top talent and put together a company that lacked none of the features a supplement brand needs. I knew the frustrations of brand owners who were forced to involve so many outsiders in order to get their products manufactured, tested, packaged, labeled, delivered. I was aware of the importance of having a brand owner focus on the brand and the marketing. The company we put together was designed to fill the gaps and allow brand owners to focus their attention on just that. We provide so much more than manufacturing services, we take care of the nitty gritty details that can distract a brand owner. Our company provides manufacturing, packaging, graphic design, compliance, fulfillment, inventory management, transportation services and more. Our growth is solely dependent on that of our clients.
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As Founder and CEO of Makers Nutrition, my responsibility is to provide the vison for the company’s growth and success and to create and constantly enhance a culture that attracts, educates, enriches, and serves the great people that make this company run smoothly.
Makers Nutrition is leading the dietary supplement industry with innovative solutions for businesses around the globe. Our full-service operation allows vitamin and supplement companies of all sizes to focus on branding and marketing, while we do the heavy lifting. Instead of having to jump from manufacturer to graphic designer to printer to co-packer to fulfillment center, startups and seasoned companies can count on Makers Nutrition to handle almost everything under one roof. Makers Nutrition has been in business for eight years and though we have experienced tremendous growth since the very beginning, we feel like we are just getting started. We want to be the company our clients want us to be and need us to be. We aim to stay a few steps ahead of the industry and therefore be ready to guide our clients and provide the services they need as the industry moves forward and changes. We do not let our clients get left behind as the industry, the consumer, and the world continue to evolve. Instead, we believe it is our job to help lead the change and to guide our clients forward both successfully and profitably.
Makers Nutrition specializes in providing all the services needed for success by brands in the dietary supplement industry. The first word that comes to mind is ‘competitive.’ With so many vitamin manufacturers offering similar services, there is a constant need to find new ways of attracting clients. Be it through lower minimum order quantities, or competitive pricing, manufacturing service providers compete for the top spot on the web, which is the industry’s most utilized form of advertisement. Private label vitamin businesses want to go with the best choice provider, which is why it is our mission to prove exactly how we offer only the best in quality and customer service while providing very competitive pricing so we can provide the overall most optimal value in the industry.
Winning multiple TITAN Business Awards is a testament to our commitment to our clients. Though we work with companies of all sizes, Makers Nutrition is proudest to be recognized for our efforts in leveling the playing field for so many startups and budding entrepreneurs. To be named a winner among so many distinguished organizations around the world is a great honor, as we know our products and services have helped business owners help individuals looking to improve their lives through better health.
Most recently, an Asia-based supplement team visited our office in New York. They were excited to see our 2021 Titan Business Awards, as well as our International Stevie Award trophies and Inc. 5000 banner. While being recognized for our innovation among so many American companies, we are even prouder to display that Makers Nutrition’s commitment to value, quality, and customer service is not only to local business owners, but those worldwide. The recognition of our efforts by the IAA helps us tell our story.
We see these winning entries much more as an opportunity and a tool for great marketing rather than a challenge. We are a very dynamic company and the awards help to highlight all avenues of our success. From sales to design to customer service, from quality to leadership to growth, from logistics services to innovation to adaptability, these awards have helped us spread the word about all we have to offer our clients. It is somewhat more difficult to prove to clients that you are the most transparent, consistent, and committed vitamin manufacturing service provider when non-disclosure agreements prevent sharing which outstanding brands we support. Our team utilizes winning award entries to express how we outpace a sea of competitors. Unlike many vitamin manufacturers, Makers Nutrition handles all products in an FDA-registered, GMP-compliant facility. We do not only meet, but exceed expectations so our clients can offer consumers safe, high-quality health supplements they believe in. Having the industry and business community recognition in the form of these awards heightens our credibility throughout the industry and helps brand owners weed through their many options.
Coming from all walks of life, our team is full of diversity in thought. We encourage the input of all employees, always. When anyone in our company suggests a new approach, strategy, or modification that might improve our productivity or better serve our clients, we bring it to the table with an open mind. Subscribed to all popular industry-related publications, attending every health and wellness trade show and important event, we educate ourselves with industry and ingredient trends. We regularly sit down and discuss new ideas, considering everyone’s input. Then, we implement that idea into our respective methods. We feel that it is our job to lead in this industry, to be ahead of the trends, to mold the trends and to guide our clients to the leading edge of the supplement business.
The pillars of any success must be built on a strong, solid foundation. Without it, there is no team building, no inspiration, and certainly no growth. From my experience, I would define a successful team and organization as one that has mutual respect among employees and unites behind a strong, productive culture and a single vision. No matter the hierarchy of positions within the business, a strong foundation of support from management inspires an equally committed team and with that in place, a company can reach its goals.
A strong commitment to serving our clients with high-quality, GMP-compliant products, and simplifying an otherwise complicated process with an emphasis on unbeatable customer service. We focus strongly on the fundamentals of good business. As our success is built on that of our clients, our company is designed to excel in those areas that help our clients succeed and grow. Delivering top quality products at a very good price is certainly most important but we also know that our clients need answers, assistance, ideas, strategies… so we focus on providing the very best in such customer service. It is all about the fundamentals.
When COVID-19 hit, the nutraceutical industry focus changed to immune support in a major way. Of course, there continued to be interest in the many supplements we provide that keep people in good health and top physical condition, but there was a new, robust focus on natural antivirals such as selenium, zinc, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, monolaurin, elderberry, and the like. Though Makers Nutrition works primarily with client-provided, custom formulas, we are always looking for ways to provide stock formulas, complementary products of all sorts to help our clients grow their businesses. In response to the pandemic’s arrival, Makers Nutrition took an early lead in developing an entire line of immune-supporting stock products to offer our clients. The benefit of the company’s large investment provided our clients with not just the opportunity to offer top quality immune support products, but to do so much more quickly and at far lower minimum order quantities than are possible with custom formulas. The investment paid off for our company and clients just in time. That said, there were and continue to be supply chain issues, raw material shortages, and transportation delays that no company can circumvent. However, we remain committed to leading the industry in serving our clients and minimizing their inconveniences.
The pandemic certainly raised health consciousness among consumers. Those who were previously uninterested in dietary supplements became interested in chewing elderberry gummies and stocking up on beneficial vitamin blends. People who were already into their supplement regimens grew more attentive to preventative health and what they could do for optimal immune system function. While these products remain popular, I am most excited about the potential of collaboration between supplement manufacturers and custom formulas presented by clients. Makers Nutrition has increasingly found that our flavor systems, for example, pair very well with client-formulated multivitamin gummies, powders and more. As a flavoring specialist, the shift to gummies in particular has weighed in our favor and given us the opportunity to really show what we can do.
Education is key. Learn as much as you can from mentors who demonstrate what makes a business succeed. Push yourself to take classes that teach the fundamentals of not only business management, but people management. Working well with people will take you and your organization far.
There are ongoing scientific and clinical studies that show the promising effects that vitamins and supplements have on the mind and body. These studies, combined with consumer interest in categories such as sports nutrition, gut health, and stress management, will likely yield more innovation in terms of product innovation and how to better suit consumer needs. And with health consciousness only growing higher, I see an upward trajectory for the nutraceutical industry at large. Exciting research continues in the fields of nootropics which seem more and more promising toward transforming elderly health and with cannabidiols which show potential on several fronts. Bei it with these fields or so many others focused on improving natural health, we expect technological advances in the next 5-10 years to be unlike any we have yet seen, and we are excited about our role in moving the industry forward.
I can proudly say that I am a self-made man. I started out on my own at a very young age, by today’s standards, and succeeded in several industries before finding my way into supplements. Though I was solely dependent on myself financially, I drew inspiration from many people over the years—from supervisors, advisors, mentors, executive peer groups and both well-known and everyday heroes. From some, I learned about the power of commitment and life balance, from others about the attention to detail and the importance of vision, from others about teamwork. Each was fundamental to becoming the person and businessman I am today. Specifically, I must say I drew a great amount of inspiration from the vision for innovation Steve Jobs followed and I took many cues from the success of Alex Rodriguez both on the field and in his business life.
The key to success is to focus on your vision with an open mind. Master the fundamentals and stick to the vision. As far as running a successful organization, the key is to remember that respect is a two-way street. Show your employees they are valued, that YOU the entrepreneur are lucky to have them on your team. There are plenty of other opportunities your employees could choose, but they chose this one. Don’t let a day go by without showing them that each and every team member is a part of something greater than all of us.