Then & Now: Fortner finds success with New York startups

New York City is a global hub of business and commerce and a melting pot of cultures and food from around the world. For Steve Fortner, moving there from Arkansas was a pivotal point for him, both personally and professionally.

Fortner grew up in Arkansas and earned his undergrad and then a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas. After college, he worked on Walmart teams for PepsiCo and Unilever. While there, at age 28, he was named to the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s 2009 Forty Under 40 class. A stint at Dannon followed, then four years with retail broker Harvest Group, where he had startups as clients.

In one memorable success, Fortner helped save a startup that was in trouble at Walmart, then helped grow the business from 10 to 200 SKUs (stock-keeping units) at Walmart, becoming so successful the company was bought out. He enjoyed the work, so when an opportunity came to move to New York City to work as senior director for sales, Walmart, for Harry’s, a startup personal care company, he jumped at the chance.

“I’d grown up in Arkansas and never left Arkansas, so it was a great opportunity to expand my horizons,” Fortner said. “I can’t think of more extremes than from Northwest Arkansas to New York City. It was an opportunity to grow and stretch as a person and go on a new adventure.”

The networking and startup communities in Northwest Arkansas and New York City have similarities, Fortner said.

“Here [New York City] it’s a lot more diverse with different types of industries,” he said. “But the thing here is that a lot of startups come here because a lot of the capital is here, and so it affords a lot of opportunity to network and expand with marketing and advertising because a lot of those companies are based here.”

The unique opportunity to connect with a diverse group of people from all over the world helped him grow as a person and in his career, he said.

“There’s not a lot of areas in the United States where in your own building you have someone from China, from Australia, from London, from India, from Ohio and from Texas,” he said. “Your entire community, just in your own building, is from all over the world.”

In June 2023, Fortner became director of retail sales at Kencko, another startup. The company sells freeze-dried, instant organic smoothie mixes to ensure its customers get their five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Ninety percent of the people in this country are not eating enough fruits and vegetables per day, Fortner said.

“When I went to Harry’s, I was starting to work for startups, and I really, really loved working for startups,” he said. “But I knew that my passion is in food. I’m a total foodie, so that’s where I really wanted to end up.”

Kencko, founded and based in Portugal, began in 2018 as a direct-to-consumer business selling smoothies online and had 360,000 members.

Fortner, now 43, is helping them expand to retail and manages the company’s Walmart launch, which rolls out 20 SKUs in 1,487 of the retailer’s stores this month. The company’s first TV ad campaign on the major networks also drops this month.

The company is growing on an average of more than 500% per year after three years in business, and in 2023, it delivered over 13 million servings of fruits and vegetables worldwide. Kencko is B Corp certified, a designation the company has met high standards for social and environmental practices. Fortner plans to help build the company and the brand at retail to make it a major brand in the United States.

“I’d love to see Kencko become a $1 billion brand at retail,” he said. “I think since I’ve lived in New York, I’ve seen so much opportunity open up here; and this is a hub for new brands.”

In his spare time, Fortner enjoys the running groups in the city and “has gotten into running in a big way.”