Veetee USA has named Kevin Stitt as its US Executive, tapping a career built across major consumer packaged goods brands to lead the company's retail expansion into Walmart and Publix. The appointment is a deliberate step in Veetee's US growth strategy, with full localized production at its North Carolina facility targeted for February 2028.
Stitt brings a track record spanning multiple segments of the consumer goods industry, including senior roles at Flora Food Group—the plant-based foods business backed by KKR that operates the Upfield portfolio—as well as time at BodyArmor, Coca-Cola, and Jack Link's. Each of those organizations required navigating large-scale retail relationships, managing distribution complexity, and growing shelf presence in competitive categories. That combination of experience positions Stitt to engage directly with buying teams and supply chain requirements at major retailers.
“Veetee's product technology and manufacturing approach create a genuine point of difference on shelf,” said Stitt. “The opportunity to build distribution at Walmart and Publix from a dedicated domestic production base is exactly the kind of platform I have spent my career preparing for.”
Central to the retail pitch is Veetee's 10-Stage Steam Filtration cooking process, which uses open steam cooking rather than the retort pouch method common across much of the ready rice category. Retort processing—where product is sealed and heat-treated inside its final packaging—can affect texture and flavor in ways that open steam cooking avoids. Veetee's approach produces rice that is cooked and then packaged, preserving the grain's natural characteristics.
The product also ships in transparent clear trays in sizes ranging from 9.9oz to 10.6oz, allowing consumers to see the product before purchase. That visual transparency is a deliberate departure from opaque or foil-based packaging formats that dominate portions of the shelf. At retail environments like Walmart and Publix, where shoppers move quickly and make decisions by sight, the format is designed to communicate product quality without relying on packaging graphics alone.
The Stitt appointment is directly tied to the timeline and ambitions of Veetee USA's domestic production investment. The Selma, NC manufacturing hub is being developed as the operational backbone of the company's US strategy, allowing Veetee to supply retail customers from a domestic location rather than relying entirely on imported inventory. Full production at the facility is targeted for February 2028, a milestone that would give the company greater control over lead times, logistics costs, and the ability to respond to retailer replenishment demands at scale.
Selma, located in Johnston County in eastern North Carolina, sits within reasonable proximity to major distribution infrastructure serving the Southeast and mid-Atlantic, regions where Publix has a dense store footprint and where Walmart operates a substantial number of supercenters. The geographic positioning of the facility was a factor in the site selection process.
Stitt's immediate focus will be advancing conversations with Walmart and Publix buyers, a process that requires demonstrating not only product performance but supply chain readiness. His experience working within organizations that manage national retail distribution at volume—including the logistics and compliance requirements set by large-format grocery and mass merchant retailers—is considered central to his role.
The Veetee USA CPG expansion represents the company's broader effort to establish a foothold in the US ready rice market using domestic manufacturing as a competitive lever alongside its differentiated cooking process and packaging format.
