Fast-growing food startup Top Seedz is officially opening an account with Costco, one of the world's largest retailers.
Top Seedz is coming off of a strong year in which it grew revenue by about 50% while turning on commercial-scale production at its new factory in downtown Buffalo.
2026 is off to a banner start as well.
The artisan cracker and seeds company, led by founder and CEO Rebecca Brady, celebrated the New Year by shipping about 40 pallets of crackers to one of the world’s largest retailers: Costco.
The initial order will go to 25 stores in the Los Angeles region. But Costco rewards products that perform well, so if Top Seedz follows its legacy of strong performance on retail shelves, this could be the beginning of an expansive relationship.
Top Seedz has a variety of distribution channels across the U.S,, but large retailers such as Wegmans and Kroger’s are a big part of its year-over-year growth.
“Obviously, Costco represents a lot of opportunity,” said Brady, who is heading to LA this week to oversee marketing and sales efforts. “These kinds of accounts allow us to continue getting crackers into the hands of new customers and fit into the bigger picture of our growth.
Brady founded Top Seedz in 2017 based on the healthy snacks she baked for her children, and the next year, the company won a $50,000 grant in the Ignite Buffalo competition. Top Seedz ultimately won a $1 million investment in the 43North accelerator in 2021.
The company raised $750,000 from the WNY Impact Investment Fund in early 2024 to support its move from a small suburban production site in Cheektowaga to an automated 35,000-square-foot headquarters/factory in downtown Buffalo.
Top Seedz employs about 75 people, up from about 40 when it made the move to the new factory. Those employees are largely drawn from Buffalo’s refugee population, via partnerships with Journey’s End and Community Services for Every1.
Many of the high-growth companies in Buffalo that have remained on strong growth trajectories have manufactured goods.
