Wayflyer funded Big Mozz's inventory and retail expansion into thousands of new doors

Big Mozz makes frozen mozzarella sticks coated in fresh garlic, parsley, pecorino romano, salt, pepper and breadcrumbs. Founder Matt Gallira started the company in Brooklyn 10 years ago. Today a remote team of 10 runs it from Woodstock, New York, and ships to all 50 states across food service and retail.

Big Mozz began as a stand at Smorgasburg, the big outdoor food market in New York City, where Matt made fresh mozzarella in front of the crowd. Customers had a request for him.

People kept coming up to the stand and asking us to take that cheese and deep fry it and make mozzarella sticks. And finally, we listened.

Those sticks became the product. For the first five years the company was mostly a catering business, feeding outdoor events and music festivals, before it opened a restaurant and started managing concert venues. Then COVID hit.

At the start of COVID we were in the exact wrong business.

With catering revenue gone, Matt put the manufacturing capacity he had built to use. Big Mozz launched a food service business selling to restaurants, bars, universities, cruise ships, casinos and pro sports venues. About two years ago it added retail, using the same product.

Retail came with its own distribution network, its own chargebacks and a much higher need for capital. For a while, food service revenue paid for the push. Then Big Mozz crossed 4,000 retail doors in 2025 and needed to build inventory and fund the promotions that drive trial in the frozen aisle.

As we're adding doors, now you're adding slotting, you're adding more trade spend, but we also need to produce more. So our cash conversion cycle started to stretch out more and more.

A customer paying late made the gap worse. Matt needed faster, more flexible access to capital to keep growing.

Big Mozz started working with Wayflyer in February 2025, when its revenue run rate was $12-14M. Wayflyer set up a $1.5M credit line, about 10% of that run rate. It worked like a revolver: as Big Mozz paid the balance back, it could draw again.

The Wayflyer team got on a call, went through the P&L and balance sheet, and extended the credit Big Mozz needed. When the business grew faster than Matt expected, they raised the line and allowed bigger draws.

Treating us like human beings through the process and through the whole working relationship is actually really special and isn't something that you encounter everywhere.

Big Mozz now runs at $20-25M a year, and the credit line grew in proportion. The company ships 8 to 15 truckloads of mozzarella sticks every month.

The company's growing fast and the credit facility grew with it, which has been really useful.

Matt's team is now gearing up for Q4, which they call silly season, with a big promotional push around the holidays and the Super Bowl. Next year brings new products and a trip to Expo West.

Interested in following in Big Mozz's footsteps? Wayflyer has funded over 6,000 businesses worldwide with $6 billion worth of working capital, backed by world-leading financial institutions. Apply in minutes and access funds in hours. Start your application today.