Explore all the latest packaging trends, all at PACK EXPO International
Discover new packaging and processing solutions from 2,500+ exhibitors, all under one roof at PACK EXPO International, Nov. 3 – 6 in Chicago.

Cece’s Veggie Co-Founders Helps Roll Out Regional Brand Accelerators

Mason Arnold, founder of the fast-growing Cece’s Veggie Co. lines of vegetable-based noodle replacements, talks to PW about the growing Naturally umbrella of emerging brand incubators.

Cvnc All Packs Stacked Cmyk

Mason Arnold has been an organics pioneer and serial entrepreneur since graduating the University of Texas in 2001. He has founded several companies with sustainability at the core, most recently Cece’s Veggie Co., which a year ago was ranked as Inc. magazine’s 3rd Fastest growing private company in 2019.Mason Arnold, founder of the fast-growing Cece’s Veggie Co.Mason Arnold, founder of the fast-growing Cece’s Veggie Co.

Packaging World:
Tell us a little about your background, and how you ended up founding Cece’s Veggie Co.?

Mason Arnold:
My prior start-up company was called Greenling, where we did grocery home delivery. We had created a value-added kitchen, so we were processing and selling value-added vegetables that we got from local farms. Often, this local produce isn’t as pretty as some in retail, and so processing them leveled the playing field, and we would sell them chopped or diced.

Over that time, I saw a lot of brands come and go, and got pretty good at guessing which ones were going to do well, and which ones weren’t. And then—in what turned out to be a really influential event in leading me to found Cece’s—my family and I had to go gluten-free due to allergies. So, I was looking for the best gluten-free pasta out there, as well as trying to get more vegetables into my kids’ diets, and I felt like that vegetable noodles might be a plausible business model. I researched all the way down to the microbiology of what happens when slicers and blades cut vegetables. With that research, I actually invented the machine that we still use to this day to make pasta out of fresh vegetables.

With that machine, I knew I could make a good noodle, and so then the very next question to me was, “what does the packaging need to look like?” I identified where in the store I wanted it to go, and then from there, I decided on what I felt like the best packaging would be. And got some help from a local agency, Shelf Studio, Austin, Texas, to design the perfect package and brand, in order to sell these vegetable noodles.

Are there any specific packaging challenges with vegetable noodles?
When you cut a vegetable into a very small cross section, there’s a whole lot of surface area for degradation of that product. And because we sell it fresh, and there’s no kill step [pasteurization or HPP, for example] involved, shelf-life and pathogens are the two biggest considerations. All of that did have to go into it our business model, and how we do that is kind of our black box, our trade secret.

Cvnc Zucchini Spirals HeroWhat was the genesis of Naturally Austin?
I’ve been a mentor for SKU, a consumer products accelerator program in town, and seeing the community come together around that was inspiring. But even though there was this great accelerator program where entrepreneurs got to meet all of these mentors and suppliers, SKU is mostly focused on the companies who enter their program. I wanted to help create something that extended beyond that, to anyone who wants to be involved in the CPG community. 

I think it’s really important to have community within industry. Actually, I’m also a mentor at Capital Factory, which is a technology accelerator for all things tech. It’s kind of the central hub for technology start-ups and entrepreneurship in town. And I had watched that grow—the founder of that, Josh Baer was on the board of my last company—and I wanted to create something like that for the CPG community.

New e-book on Multipacking and Case Packing
Read how to extend the life of your case packing equipment and best practices for efficient shrink bundling operation. Plus, learn the differences between wraparound & regular slotted containers.
Read More
New e-book on Multipacking and Case Packing
Check out new technology from 2,500+ packaging & processing suppliers
PACK EXPO International is where you can discuss real-world problems with experts and land on innovative ideas. Discover every new packaging and processing trend, see machinery in action and learn sustainable solutions from experts.
Read More
Check out new technology from 2,500+ packaging & processing suppliers