Hartley House

Serving the Natural Foods & Health Products Industry

Hartley House specializes in servicing small to medium-sized companies to customize a process to effectively and affordably develop and launch new or existing products and business ideas – for the domestic, national and global markets. Working closely with every client, Hartley House ensures unique, innovative and qualified products are designed to not only compete, but excel in the long-term for today’s highly competitive marketplace.

Hartley House also provides strategic sales solutions, including Brand Management services – and has represented hundreds of brands, nationally and globally, and is directly responsible for over $20 million in direct sales.

Hartley Berg is the founder and Director of Hartley House. For over 20 years, Hartley has been representing the interests of business entrepreneurs’, manufacturers, distributors, brokers and retailers, growers and importers within the natural, organic, nutritional, specialty and premium-based product categories.

Hartley and his team brings an entrepreneurial spirit and results-driven approach – that speak to real people who live, work, and play in the real world – where results are paramount, building business solutions that reach the hearts and minds of buyers and consumers alike.

Hartley House identifies opportunities, builds solutions and creates results.

Services

There are many elements involved in taking that great idea to the point of successfully launching it onto the retail shelves – and to ensure that the value of your brand and products are recognized, accepted, and enjoying viable and sustainable growth over time.

Hartley House is able to provide the full spectrum of services to accomplish your goals, including Business Plan Development, Product Development, Package Development, Strategic Marketing and Brand Management.

Business Plan

This critical document is intended to clearly identify and coordinate the new business opportunities. It gives one the power to communicate the business idea in a well-researched and organized format, so that other key players (bankers, investors, landlords, key staff, co-packers) unfamiliar with the project, could quickly be brought up-to-speed, and defining their roles in the implementation of the Plan.

A Hartley House Business Plan is one which is well researched, easy to navigate, provides strategic marketing, processes solid professional financial analysis, and truly leaves the reader feeling like “you’ve done your homework”    The reader gains confidence as she/he is brought through levels of detail, until all their questions are answered in the document.  The psychology is one which the reader feels that all the “risks” have been calculated and that you can successfully implement the idea.

More specifically, your Business Plan will detail your vision and mission, opportunity, concept and target markets, the industry you are entering into, product descriptions, production and packaging, distribution and sales, competitive analysis, a marketing plan and risk analysis.  The financial section will detail the start up budget, funding requirements, revenue model and profit and loss projections by month for the first 3 years of the project.  The Business Plan will be suitable for financing purposes and serve as a blueprint for the implementation of the project.

There are two good reasons for a Business Plan:

  1. Required at financial institutions, such as banks, and for private investors, to raise capital for business development costs. Government funding programs, grants and incentives on “lower interest” business loans.
  2. A Business Plan is a “living and breathing” document. Although it will be prepared and completed for the needs and requirement of presentation to submit for funding purposes, a Business Plan is a meaningful and fundamental requirement for any business. It works to establish the business strategies, conservative or achievable goals, a thoughtful and cost-effective plan to achieve those goals and the flexibility to adjust goals as the business develops. It will also serve to clearly outline the business structure and organization.

Product Development

Hartley House starts with your idea – and then researches the product category to further advance the product concept to produce a viable approach to achieve marketable products. We utilize professional food-science applications to customize large-scale production methodologies.

Of primary focus in product development is optimizing production yields and efficiencies. The natural products food industry is a weight driven affair where margins can vary greatly depending upon fractions of gram weight.

Our services include:

  • Initial product and pricing review to assess potential marketability
  • create new or develop existing product conceptualization
  • commercial recipe and production formulation
  • reformulation & quality improvements
  • audits, ingredient declaration
  • nutritional label
  • health claims
  • shelf-life testing
  • ingredient sourcing
  • equipment sourcing
  • co-packer/manufacturer sourcing

Package Development

Hartley House takes your product and builds the packaging to ensure competitive and visual effectiveness. We combine the science and artistic process to ensure your products jump off the shelves and into the hands of the end-consumer.

Our services include:

  • identifying innovative and suitable packaging formats and materials
  • packaging design; graphics, logo, slogan, colors, art, content and claims
  • product, packaging and food photography
  • product labeling review for Canadian regulations
  • labeling specifications – legal requirements
  • trade marking
  • French translation
  • UPC codes
  • shelf and floor point-of-purchase displays
  • sourcing packaging materials, suppliers and printers

Strategic Marketing

Hartley House provides strategic marketing to effectively shorten the sales cycle. Many smaller or mid-size companies (and even big ones for that matter) recognize the need for marketing, but don’t understand what’s involved to put together a successful, strategic campaign.

Hartley House provides a structured and sustainable approach to strategic marketing through a process of identifying, qualifying, and analyzing the markets and media options and implement an integrated campaign that will help you capture the most value for your budgeted marketing dollars by achieving your defined objectives.

Our services include:

  • market research and assessment
  • creative writing, press release, newsletters
  • advertising, media and public relation campaigns
  • consumer and trade brochures
  • company, brand and product naming
  • power point presentations
  • consumer focus group
  • in-store product demo
  • trade and consumer show
  • policy, procedure and operational manuals
  • website development, social media campaigns and SEO

Brand Management

Hartley House specializes in natural, organic, specialty and premium-based product categories, working closely in partnership with Canada’s extensive network of major natural food retailers, traditional grocery, pharmacy, and distribution services – by providing brand and sales management for new and existing brands and products.

Maintaining a small, selective number of brands, we afford our clients more focus and results than larger brokerage firms. Hartley House is committed to help you succeed and grow in today’s competitive marketplace.

Our Brand Management Services include:

  • Initial product and pricing review to assess potential marketability
  • product labelling review for Canadian and U.S. regulations
  • new brand and product launches
  • retailer marketing programs
  • strategic product placement and merchandising
  • coordinate product displays and end-cap opportunities
  • distribution management
  • direct selling to buyers
  • inventory management
  • product sell-through analysis
  • sales forecasting and tracking
  • store audits
  • marketing and promotional campaigns
  • sales software management systems
  • e-commerce strategies
  • consumer and trade-show management
  • private-label programs

Clients

Hartley House has had the privilege of servicing dozens of companies by providing product and business development services along with Brand Management for new and existing brands within the natural, organic, nutritional, specialty and premium-based products categories.

Hartley House mission is to exceed the needs and expectations of all clients, communities, the environment and the planet – and to create partnering relationships of trust, integrity, customer satisfaction, loyalty and maintain ethical business practices in all dealings with our clients, and those they represent.

Values

Hartley House mission is to exceed the needs and expectations of all our clients, communities, the environment and the planet – and to create partnering relationships of trust, integrity, customer satisfaction, loyalty and maintain ethical business practices in all dealings with our clients, and those they represent.

Hartley House supports the wide spread use of certified and transitional organics, biodegradable packaging, hypoallergenic, dairy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free, fair trade, GMO free, free range, vegetarian and live foods and to encourage informed purchasing choices and to demonstrate how this impacts our health and the health of the planet.

Hartley House supports foods that are grown or produced within a community, in an effort to; reduce food miles for cleaner air, nurture a healthy food system and strengthens local economies – and to support in the development of a sustainable food system through strong local economies, sustainable farming practices, and ethically-based commerce

Hartley House - Feed the World Initiative

Hartley House will be engendered in important activities that will be part of how the company operates. We live in a world of abundance, yet too large a portion of the world’s population is mal-nourished.  With proper awareness one quickly realizes that much of this has nothing to do with natural causes or plain ignorance, but is by design as a system of political globalization that has historically destabilized entire countries and regions by stripping out natural resources and manufacturing famine.  In turn, there is no doubt that the world community faces a challenge to properly provide nutrition for a planet fast approaching 10 billion human inhabitants.

Hartley House will always be aware and behave directly in connection to our world community – and actively participate in the important role it can play in re-introducing nutrient-based foods to people around the world – and to use our strengths to support socially responsible initiatives that protect the environment and foster stewardship of the land.

Hartley

| Founder and Director

Hartley Berg is the Founder and Director behind Hartley House. Hartley is a long-time business entrepreneur, with strong emphasis in marketing, business, product and packaging development as well as Brand Management for the natural products industry.

Hartley began his career at age 15, when he opened his first business, Vitality Food Center, Toronto’s first shop-at-home natural foods service – offering 500+ members over 8,000 natural and organic foods and nutritional products at guaranteed lowest prices. During this period, Hartley was completing his high school diploma followed by full-time educational studies in Marketing as well as Food and Beverage Management, then followed by extensive courses in health, nutrition and wellness.

At age 19, Hartley sold his health food business to expand his industry knowledge by working for some of the largest natural products companies in Ontario, including Maximum Nutrition Distributors followed by his position as General Manager for Noah’s Natural Foods.

Hartley moved his life to British Columbia in 1996 to purchase a Heritage building in James Bay, Victoria, converting the building into self-contained luxury vacation rental suites – and continued with Hartley House – a marketing and Brand Management service that specializes in the natural, organic, specialty and premium-based products and services industries – continuing to do what Hartley loves best, advocating a healthy and happy lifestyle.

Much of what Hartley stands for is embodied in the quote from early environmentalist visionary, Donella Meadows:

“As for me, I put my faith in good top soil and big trees and clean running streams and mutually supportive communities and honest work that provide what people really need.”

Contact

Selecting marketing representation is one of the most important decisions a manufacturer or business owner makes.

Hartley House is recognized as a trusted, reliable and respected marketing and Brand Management company for over 20 years. Call to find out more.

 

Call Hartley House for a free initial consultation

info@hartleyhouse.ca | 604-340-4264 | www.hartleyhouse.ca