DC Foods, the South Africa-based parent of premium frozen dessert brand Island Way, has added Matt Close to its Board of Directors, tapping a former Unilever Global Ice Cream President to guide the company through its most aggressive growth phase to date.
Close spent 32 years at Unilever, rising to lead strategy for one of the world's largest ice cream portfolios before his departure. He currently serves as a Senior Advisor to Blantyre Capital. His appointment signals DC Foods' intent to professionalize its governance structure as it moves from emerging challenger to mainstream frozen-category player.
The Growth Context
The timing of the board appointment reflects the scale of momentum behind Island Way. By summer 2026, the brand is set to be stocked in more than 15,000 retail locations — triple its prior on-shelf footprint — after adding more than 3,000 new stores over the past year. Exclusive product launches with Sam's Club and Target have raised the brand's visibility considerably, and Island Way has been named to Bain & Company's 2026 Insurgent Brands List, a recognition that typically signals a brand is outpacing its category peers in growth velocity.
For foodservice and retail buyers tracking the frozen dessert segment, those numbers represent a meaningful shift in the competitive landscape. Island Way's handcrafted fruit-shell format occupies a distinct niche — visually differentiated, positioned as premium — and its rapid door expansion suggests retailer confidence in consumer pull. The brand is also projecting revenue growth in the U.S. alongside a push into Canada and other global markets.
What Close Brings
David Peters, CEO of DC Foods and Island Way, described Close's appointment as central to the company's scaling ambitions. "His deep understanding of consumer trends, brand building, innovation and category growth will be invaluable as we continue to scale the business," Peters said.
Close, for his part, pointed to the brand's differentiation as the draw. "Island Way has built a distinctive brand that combines premium quality, innovation and consumer appeal in a way that truly stands out in the frozen dessert space," he said.
For operators and buyers, board-level hires with this profile often precede accelerated SKU expansion, foodservice channel entry, or broader marketing investment — moves that can shift category dynamics on both the retail and away-from-home sides. Brands that crack the insurgent list and simultaneously secure seasoned category leadership tend to move quickly from specialty-set placements to mainstream fixture space.
The frozen dessert category has seen sustained premiumization pressure over the past several years, with consumers trading up on indulgence occasions even as they trim spending elsewhere. That dynamic has benefited brands with a clear, sensory-forward identity — precisely the positioning Island Way has built around its fruit-shell presentation and tropical flavor profile. Operators and distributors following premium dessert trends in foodservice will want to monitor whether Island Way accelerates a foodservice channel strategy alongside its retail rollout.
For broader context on how governance and leadership changes are reshaping growth brands across the food and beverage sector, Food & Beverage Magazine has tracked similar moves across the frozen and specialty food segments. Retailers and distributors evaluating the frozen and refrigerated category landscape will find Island Way's trajectory a useful data point as premium players continue to challenge legacy brands for freezer real estate.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
