Oct 2, 2017   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Tom Pontikes Joins Universal Pure as a Business Development Executive

Universal Pure, the country’s largest outsourcing service provider of high pressure processing for food and beverage producers, announced that Tom Pontikes has joined its team as a business development executive.

A long-time veteran of the food and beverage production industry, Pontikes will be responsible for growing Universal Pure’s national food service presence, with a particular emphasis on its facility in Malvern, Pa.

“Tom’s business development ability and impressive industry expertise make him a great fit for Universal Pure,” said Mark A. Duffy, CEO of Universal Pure. “His experience building, growing and maintaining relationships with many of the most successful companies in the industry will enable Universal Pure to help these companies and leverage the benefits of HPP.”

Pontikes joins Universal after spending nearly 30 years managing sales and supply chain operations for a wide variety of companies including the Kellogg Company, McCormick & Company, the McDonald’s Corporation and Conagra Brands. He has sold and managed products across nearly every sector in the food and beverage industry, including proteins, produce, dairy, baked goods and snacks, seasonings, sauces, dressings and condiments.

About Universal Pure, LLC
Headquartered in Villa Rica, Ga., Universal Pure, LLC (www.universalpure.com) is committed to making every bite and sip fresh and delicious, and most importantly, safe. As a customer-centric service provider of high pressure processing (HPP), Universal Pure’s four U.S. locations (Villa Rica, Ga.; Lincoln, Neb.; Malvern, Pa.; and Coppell, Texas) and 10 HPP machines in operation make it the largest third-party service provider in the country of HPP services. Companies also outsource with Universal Pure for its cold storage and related pre-HPP and post-HPP value-added services (kitting, pre-pricing, code dating, inventory control), and to leverage their technical, quality assurance, engineering and cold-chain expert resources in order to give food and beverage producers the freedom to pursue their business goals when bringing fresh, natural, organic and cleaner-label products to market. Universal Pure is purely driven to always look ahead to advance the safety and quality of what we eat and drink.