How Nature’s Touch Frozen Foods is building a legacy with premium quality fruit and bold innovation
For more than 20 years, Nature’s Touch Frozen Foods (Nature’s Touch) has been redefining what’s possible in frozen fruit and vegetables, setting new standards for quality, innovation, and sustainability. Founded by John Tentomas, the company is driven by its passion for premium produce, leading the industry with its wealth of global sourcing expertise, uncompromising quality, and dependable service. From cherries, berries, and broccoli to tropical mixes and chocolate and sour-coated delights, Nature’s Touch is committed to transforming healthy cravings into limitless possibilities that are top-quality, fun, and accessible for all.
“I founded Nature’s Touch back in 2004,” John says, recounting the business’ humble beginnings. “Initially, I was a chemical engineer working for Dow Chemical. In my five years there, I realized that working for a large organization was a great training ground. At that point in time, however, while I very much respected the work I was doing, I just didn’t feel connected to it.
“I’m from a Greek background, and if there’s one distinctive characteristic of being Greek, it’s that we’re fiercely independent. We live and die by the sword and we don’t like working for others. My wife and I, being good Greeks, wanted to be closer to our family, so we moved from New York back to Canada where we were previously from. One of my friends had lined me up with a job representing a commodities trading company, and one of its customers was Danone. I then travelled the world with one of my French customers and we co-developed qualified farms and factories that were freezing fruit all over the world.
“Being on the farm reminded me of my experience as a young boy growing up in Greece, and my grandfather had a decent sized farm for a poor village guy,” he reveals. “I always remembered that the fruit tasted outstanding, and my grandfather would always tell me that it’s because Greece is so sun-kissed that the fruit is allowed to ripen in its natural state. We were never able to experience that kind of fresh fruit profile in Canada due to the climate. I thought – ‘why can’t people eat this kind of fruit straight out of a bag?’.
“In 2004, I left the company I worked for and branched out on my own. I started Nature’s Touch in the basement of my house, working with a little repacking room in a cold storage facility in Montreal. I single-handedly packed our first six pallets of strawberries – Camarosa strawberries from Argentina. I made sure that we worked with the very best freezing technologies to preserve the texture of the fruit and ensure that the fibers didn’t break down. We’ve always focused on quality from the get-go.”
Nutritious and delicious
A journey defined by personal passion and entrepreneurial spirit, Nature’s Touch’s early days taught John lessons far beyond sourcing great fruit or building an efficient operation. John’s approach to leadership – embodied in his philosophy to ‘never miss a beat’ – is closely aligned with his personal values, which he believes has been integral to the company’s success.
“People always tell you not to take your business personally, but I think that’s so wrong in so many ways. ‘Never miss a beat’ means being engaged at the highest level; it’s not the ego or competitiveness that drives me, but rather doing the right thing,” John emphasizes. “I think that when you translate your personal values into the running of your business, your stakeholders – employees, customers, and suppliers – embrace it. Nature’s Touch has been instrumental for me in terms of who I’ve become as a person because I’ve evolved alongside it. I’m blessed to have engaged employees at Nature’s Touch, so I want us to be not just a professional organization, but a place for personal development.”
What makes Nature’s Touch’s portfolio so special is that its products are as nutritious and delicious as they are fresh. All the company’s produce is picked at the height of ripeness and then flash frozen to lock in its vibrant flavors, juicy texture, and full nutritional goodness. In addition, as climate change and rising food costs reshape the way we eat, frozen fruit is emerging as a smarter, more sustainable solution, making healthy food more accessible while reducing waste.
“The world is getting hotter, and that’s not good for crops – especially fruit,” John elaborates. “In these economic times, berries, in particular, are the most expensive they’ve ever been and, unfortunately, unhealthier foods are often the most affordable. Frozen fruit costs about 30 to 50 percent less than fresh. Secondly, frozen fruit produces a lot less waste. It’s a fact that fruit, especially berries, are thrown away eight times more than any other item in the food chain, meaning that only 30 to 40 percent of fruit actually makes it into a human’s mouth. Frozen fruit has a recovery rate of around 95 percent. We strongly believe that if we want the future of food to be more accessible, then we’re going to have to do more freezing and less wasting.”
Sustainable snacking
As the demand for accessible, high-quality frozen fruit increases with the current market conditions, Nature’s Touch is innovating new and exciting ways for customers to enjoy their favorites. The company’s Soür Burst range coats juicy fresh cherries in a zingy sour layer for a real punchy snack – no thawing needed. The business’ Chocofruit range, as its name suggests, puts a frozen spin on a culinary classic: chocolate-covered strawberries – 100 percent sustainably sourced and sweetly succulent.
To accommodate the increased demand for these products, Nature’s Touch is investing $14 million to expand its Virginia and Kansas facilities to house its Soür Burst and Chocofruit ranges, extending its innovations further into the American market. This strategic investment, however, is just one piece of Nature’s Touch’s long-term vision to build a business that creates lasting value for customers, employees, communities, and future generations alike.
“Legacy is important to me at this point in my career. I want to leave something behind that is continuously doing good for society,” John affirms. “We’re a 100-percent family-owned company, which is rare for companies of our size, and we intend to keep it that way. We do not want to lose focus on our stakeholder engagement responsibilities because, if we did, we’d lose the essence of what makes us good. We also want to continue to engage with our customers and communities to help them access more frozen fruit as a healthy snack. If we can do that, then I’ll be a very happy person.”
From a basement startup to a global leader in frozen produce, Nature’s Touch has remained true to the values that inspired its founding: quality, integrity, and a genuine commitment to making healthy food more accessible. As the company continues to expand its footprint and innovate for changing consumer needs, it’s clear that Nature’s Touch is actively reshaping the future of frozen produce – one perfectly picked fruit and vegetable at a time.
