Scaling a Category of One:
A 7 Year Partnership in Food Safety

How Four Columns helped a food safety company with industry-leading technology grow from two locations into a global brand.

Food Safety, Quality Assurance

The Need

When FlexXray came to Four Columns in 2019, they were doing something no one else in the industry was doing — using X-ray technology to facilitate a third-party inspection service to find foreign material contamination in food. However, to grow beyond their existing footprint and attract the national food manufacturers and co-packers that would fuel growth, they needed a marketing program built around their competitive differentiation.

Services Provided:

  • Brand Strategy
  • Website Design & Development
  • Social Media Strategy & Management
  • Content Writing
  • Email Marketing
  • Digital Advertising
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Multimedia
  • Direct Mail Advertising
  • CRM Configuration
  • Event Marketing
  • Webinars

The Work

Four Columns took on the role of agency of record, embedding directly with FlexXray’s executive leadership to align marketing strategy with company-level growth objectives. That meant developing a full-spectrum marketing program that could generate leads, build brand authority, and scale alongside the business as it expanded.

The work spanned website, content, social media, email, digital advertising, and design. The through-line across all of it was FlexXray’s core differentiator: X-ray and CT technology that could detect foreign material contamination with a precision the rest of the industry couldn’t match. Getting that story in front of the right buyers — food manufacturers and quality assurance teams who understood what that capability meant — required content and positioning that respected the technical intelligence of the audience.

As FlexXray’s market presence grew, they had the opportunity to launch several new locations, actively facilitated by Four Columns. Working directly with FlexXray’s marketing director, we developed and executed rollout plans for each new facility: social media support, press releases, email campaigns, new website pages, facility signage, and on-site photography where possible. Each launch was a coordinated effort to ensure that growth in physical footprint translated directly into growth in market presence.

The Results
2 → 7+ LOCATIONS
2 PE TRANSACTIONS
INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
7+ YEARS AS AGENCY OF RECORD

FlexXray entered the partnership as a two-location inspection provider with technology that outpaced its market presence. Over the next six years, the company grew to seven locations — strategic expansion supported by consistent brand positioning and a marketing program that kept pace with each new market.

That momentum has since crossed international borders. In Fall 2025, FlexXray launched its first European facility in France — a milestone that marks the company’s evolution from a domestic inspection provider into a global food safety brand. Like every location before it, Four Columns supported the France launch, bringing the same integrated approach into an entirely new market. FlexXray is now positioned to meet food inspection demand across borders — and their ceiling for growth looks very different than it did in 2019.

The sustained expansion in market presence and revenue performance has made FlexXray an attractive asset. The company has gone through two separate PE transactions over the course of the partnership. Today, FlexXray stands as the category leader in third-party food inspection, operating across seven locations and continuing to grow.

  • Ready to grow?
  • Ready for new sales?
  • Ready for a marketing partner?
  • Ready for unprecedented success?
  • Ready to outperform your competitors?

Ready To Talk?

Name