A new year promises new sales prospects for Path of Life (Harvest Foods Group Inc.), a Naperville, Ill., side dish company that’s committed taking its Live Simple brand beyond the freezercase.

Since 2015, Path of Life has sold Live Simple brand frozen quinoa, rice and veggie blends. In December, officials said they hired a full-time culinary scientist and engaged two outside product development firms to explore new innovation platforms.

Now helping Path of Life are Artisan Row, Minneapolis; and Brisan Group, Chicago.

“We did an extensive search of leading natural food research consultants to partner with,” said Audrea Fulton, vice president of sales at Path of Life. “The key differentiators for Artisan Row and Brisan Group were their backgrounds in the natural food space and expertise in accelerating the expansions of brands across categories. The two firms complement each other’s capabilities in the research and development insight and development space.”

Fulton says Path of Life will lean on the two product development companies to create new food innovation opportunities in and out of the frozen aisle.

SINCE 2015, PATH OF LIFE HAS SOLD LIVE SIMPLE BRAND FROZEN QUINOA, RICE AND VEGGIE BLENDS. IN DECEMBER, OFFICIALS SAID THEY HIRED A FULL-TIME CULINARY SCIENTIST AND ENGAGED TWO OUTSIDE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT FIRMS TO EXPLORE NEW INNOVATION PLATFORMS.

Additionally, the Live Simple brand has brought on Charolette Browder as culinary scientist. In this role, Browder will act as a food scientist and corporate chef. She also will work closely with both the marketing and quality assurance departments to streamline the product development process.

Browder is a Culinary Institute of America graduate who most recently was a research and development chef at Deli Star Corporation (2018-2020).

“We want Path of Life to resonate with consumers and have a presence in various aisles throughout the grocery store. Charolette’s expertise in food science and her classic culinary training will allow us to develop new varieties of our great tasting, better-for-you foods while still maintaining the quality standard and culinary integrity that our consumers have grown to love from us,” said Fulton.

Path of Life’s Live Simple products are available at more than 3,400 stores nationwide, including Publix, Sprouts, Safeway and Safeway subsidiaries, Costco and other natural food retailers.