Pacific Ventures CEO Shannon Masjedi Forges a Path in Male-Dominated Industry

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

Photo by Maria Lin Kim on Unsplash 

Like most industries, the food and beverage space saw significant impacts from the COVID-19 crisis that it is still trying to contend with. From supply chain disruptions that lead to a shortage in availability to demand spikes that wiped inventory clean, the industry had a wild ride in 2020. 

As the familiar mantra says though, “People have to eat.” And eat they shall. If 2021 continues on its current trajectory, the food and beverage industry will grow to $26,774 million in revenue according to estimates by Statista. This represents a 14.3% increase over 2020’s revenues. 

The Female Paradox 

Despite having such a large footprint, the food and beverage industry is not the most diverse throughout its labor force. For instance, the top ten U.S. food and beverage distributors are all headed by male CEOs including big names such as Sysco SYY and US Food Holdings Corp. USFD. Furthermore, by simply comparing the number of men and women in the industry, we can see there is a widening gap as we climb the corporate ladder. 

According to a study published by McKinsey, 51% of entry-level positions are held by men to women’s 49% overall. However, once we reach the C-suite level, women only hold 23% of these roles, compared to 77% for men. 

This widening gap also seems odd when you consider that women make the vast majority of choices when it comes to food purchasing decisions. 

Another downstream effect of this phenomenon is that women founders in the food and beverage industry receive less attention and funding than their male counterparts, which of course perpetuates this trend. Nevertheless, there are a few women who are bucking these trends. 

Forging Ahead 

As an entrepreneur and CEO of Pacific Ventures Group PACV, a product and distribution company in the food and beverage space, Shannon Masjedi is one of those women forging her own path forward in a male-dominated industry. 

Masjedi has an unconventional background for a business leader. Her family was involved in aviation. With her father flying Air Force 2 under the Carter and Ford Administrations, and Masjedi going to Arizona State to study Aeronautical Engineering — where she went on to earn several pilots licenses. Masjedi also had a career in real estate before founding an alcohol-infused ice cream and ice pop brand named SnoBar in 2010. 

Applying the principles of efficiency and attention to detail that she learned in her pilot training, Masjedi went on to grow the SnoBar brand expanding its reach beyond her home state of Arizona. In 2015 she joined Pacific Ventures Group and brought her innovative alcoholic dessert brand with her. 

As Pacific Ventures’ CEO, Masjedi now oversees the operations and expansion of the entire company. She has leveraged her business connections to help with the recent strategic acquisitions of brands like San Diego Farmers Outlet and Seaport Meat Co. 

Masjedi’s leadership has proven very successful as the consolidated gross revenues of Pacific Ventures have increased from $5.9 MM in 2019 to $30.2 MM in 2020 and they are on track for $40 MM in 2021 (estimated) even with the headwinds of the pandemic. 

Masjedi has also overseen the company’s best quarter in revenue on record with a 33% increase in Q2 of 2021 to $11.6 million in revenue for the quarter. Further demonstrating that the company’s overall strategy of expanding its product lines and cross-selling customers with its various brands is contributing to its bottom line in a significant manner.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. The content that follows is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.