Our Story

Kestrel Growth Brands, Inc., is a company that finds unique ingredients that are grown by small family farmers around the world and introduces them to chefs, bakers, and home gourmets. By bringing these organically grown ingredients to the attention of our chefs and bakers, Kestrel Growth Brands, Inc. also connects small family farmers to higher profits. They do this by partnering with the growers and including them in a percentage of the final value-added revenues.

Before founding Kestrel Growth Brands, Inc., entrepreneurs Marty Parisien and Bill Wiedmann often worked as consultants to the agricultural community in the Hawaiian Islands and throughout the Pacific Region. They were teaching family farmers how to add value to their crops and access higher price markets. They held seminars in Hawaii, Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianna's and Micronesia. They also worked with farmers individually around the Pacific to create plans to increase the value of their crops and to explore markets abroad.

Ultimately what Marty and Bill discovered was that what all of these farmers had in common was a love for producing quality, organically grown crops, and a lack of resources to brand, package, and sell their products to larger, more lucrative markets abroad. The farmers and their families would always ask, “Can we partner with you? We'll grow it, you sell it.”

The traditional path to market (first through brokers and distributors, and then finally to the chefs and end consumers) limited small farmers to the current commodity price for their produce. Working with the family farmers, Marty and Bill designed a business model that includes a fair market price for the products, plus a percentage of the value added sale so that the farmer can participate in the profits of the final sale of their crops just as if they branded and promoted their gourmet products on their own. In return, the farmers promise to continue sustainable, organic growing practices. They named this model Fair Trade Plus+™ .

Kestrel Growth Brands, Inc. actively seeks out family farmers around the world that are growing unique, quality products in a sustainable manner. They then introduce these products to chefs and bakers under a brand that represents the quality and tells the story behind the farms or region in which they are grown. When these products become popular with the chefs and bakers they then launch a retail line for the home gourmets. Often the bakers and chefs become their best salespeople and even carry the products for sale in their bakeries and restaurants. Marty and Bill look forward to finding many more family farmers around the world and to introducing their produce to epicureans here at home.