"People are our competitive advantage, and this is not lip service," says Joe Bradley, CEO of Step Change Innovations.

Step Change Innovations accelerates sales and commercialization for science-backed branded ingredient companies across food and beverage, supplement and nutraceutical, personal care, and companion animal sectors. Founded in 2019, Joe Bradley came onboard as CEO in 2022. He leads a veteran team of food scientists, regulatory experts, retail gurus, and sales and marketing professionals who are dedicated to connecting science-backed ingredients with enterprises, retailers, distributors, and consumers. Bradley is well known for introducing probiotics to the consumer landscape as an executive with Ganeden.

Filling a Gap in the Marketplace

Step Change Innovations was established to address a major market gap for science-backed ingredient companies—to commercialize and accelerate the sales of an ingredient technology without cannibalizing the business.  

By separating functions like brand creation, lead warming, and product development, Step Change delivers innovative solutions and validates consumer adoption more quickly than if these initiatives are managed in-house. 

The company’s private label and wellness control brand work also allows Step Change to become a customer of its ingredient company partners.

Since 2022, Step Change has successfully launched three consumer brands and proprietary ingredient blends:

A daily longevity bar called PEP™ featuring PeptiStrong®, a clinically studied peptide that targets muscle mass and strength signaling muscle renewal, retention, and recovery. 

A unique Quad Seed Protein called Parker’s Plant Protein™ featuring DE111® a novel probiotic, and PreforPro® a novel prebiotic to support microbiome health. The happy belly blend is protein with purpose that consumers can blend in smoothies or use to make other nutritious snacks. 

A proprietary line of blends called Bellwether™, each of which addresses a certain need state (energy, cognitive health and focus, sleep and relaxation, beauty from within, digestive and immune health, exercise and muscle support) with clinically studied ingredients at efficacious doses currently available in a gummy format with additional delivery formats to follow.

Additionally, Step Change’s private label management program has expanded to more than 150 SKUs and 75 contract manufacturers that support rapid product formulation and package delivery. This program forms the foundation for the company's science-backed wellness control label offering.

Making Connections That Enhance Lives

Step Change Innovations’ center of gravity is CEO Joe Bradley. The business is built on making connections that enhance the lives of the company’s partners and their consumers. This philosophy is core to Bradley’s leadership; he is the ultimate connector. Not only does Bradley have connections across the ingredient world, his tenure in the industry and experience building companies and developing people has helped him develop a talented and diverse team of leaders who want to serve. Bradley knows how to evaluate the talents he needs in the business and empowers his team to reach industry leaders in unique ways and take charge of their functional areas. His trust and keen ability to spot talent has fostered a high-performing team environment that attracts the largest industry players. 

“Our people are our advantage and it’s why we can deliver the quality of service we do,” Bradley says.

Commercialization, Acceleration & Connection Set Step Change Apart 

Commercialization: The veteran team understands how to connect science-backed ingredients with consumers, retailers, and distribution enterprises. Step Change commercializes ingredients through inside sales, CPG brand creation, and product development. The company says there is no one delivering a service like this today. Why? "Because selling science-backed ingredients is challenging, and the sales cycles are brutally long. We resolve these challenges for our partners.” 

Acceleration: Step Change has a diverse network of co-manufacturers, packaging partners, regulatory experts, and industry-specific media veterans that help accelerate awareness, sales, and implementation opportunities for clients. “It’s an indescribable experience to partner with us, which is why people whisper our name throughout the industry.” 

Connection: Given the depth of industry experience of the executive team, Step Change makes meaningful connections for its partners every day. If a client needs something they don’t specialize in, they know others who do, and they make connections that generate long-term value for all people involved.

Bradley explains, “We could not commercialize, accelerate, or connect without our team members. People are our competitive advantage, and this is not lip service. We can’t wait to meet you and let you experience the difference the right team makes.”

Making an Impact 

Step Change is passionate about bringing best-in-class ingredients that are Safe, demonstrate real Science, deliver Sustainability, and tell a compelling Story. They call this the 4S Principal Advantage. "Validating the 4S questions gives our customer, and our team, the peace of mind that the new technology we are commercializing improves quality of life and creates new opportunities in the right market. Every Step Change offering is designed to deliver something good for our customers, good for their consumers, and good for our communities.” 

Step Change has enjoyed being a founding sponsor of Women in Nutraceuticals, as well as other industry groups, such as the Global Prebiotic Association and International Probiotic Association. 

Locally, Step Change has been fortunate to donate time, money and support for nonprofits that mean a lot to its employees, such as the Karen Bradley Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis (a 501c3 founded by Joe Bradley in honor of his mother) and the Allison Rose Foundation. 

What’s New and What’s Next

Two relatively new programs that Step Change is excited about for the industry: 

Magnify: “Through Magnify, we act as the outsourced inside sales team for your science-backed ingredients. This accelerates sales efforts through proactive outreach to targeted lists, which builds a pipeline of warm leads for sales teams to nurture and convert with higher confidence.”

Wellness Control Label: “Our wellness control label program closes a massive gap for ingredient companies, retailers, and consumers. We deliver innovative, science-backed goods to consumers consistently and at a value that branded enterprise and startup CPG struggle to deliver. Step Change’s deep industry expertise is the ideal mix of scale and agility to deliver a wellness brand that meets retail and consumer demands for ‘good for you’ solutions.” 

Looking to the Future

After facilitating the merger with Kerry and Ganeden, Bradley was awestruck that every science-backed ingredient company needs help moving their product. This was true of the smallest companies to the largest enterprises. Leaders at these companies needed to find balance between generating consumer awareness to drive enterprise adoption without cannibalizing relationships for existing sales. 

“In talking with companies, I saw an enormous gap – it's a real challenge to sell high-margin, high-value ingredients,” Bradley says. “The ah-ha came when I realized I knew how to fill that gap. This journey has helped me to help others in aligning sales and marketing in a meaningful way.”

Words of Wisdom

Bradley shares: “Relationships matter and there are no shortcuts when it comes to building trust and delivering value.”