Gourmet News

Bolthouse Farms Acquires Starbucks’ Evolution Fresh

Published August 1, 2022

Bolthouse Farms has closed its acquisition of Evolution Fresh from Starbucks, which includes the brand, business and employees supporting Evolution Fresh. By uniting the two powerhouse brands, Bolthouse Farms looks to further accelerate the company’s leadership within the premium juice and refrigerated beverage categories in retail.

Through this acquisition, Bolthouse Farms will expand its beverage offering from nutrient-dense, plant-powered juices and smoothies to include the full lineup of Evolution Fresh’s primarily organic, cold-pressed, premium juices. Starbucks stores in the United States will continue to sell Evolution Fresh products.

“As a combined company, we will share our resources, vertically-integrated supply chain, deep knowledge of fresh produce, and passion for ingenuity and innovation,” said Bill Levisay, president, Consumer Brands, Bolthouse Farms. “Evolution Fresh produces deliciously fresh, cold-pressed juices that consumers are looking for. Our job now is to support their expertise and bring additional resources to the table to expand the brand’s reach.”

Bolthouse Farms is the No. 1 super premium refrigerated beverage brand and one of the largest carrot suppliers to North American retailers.

“Bolthouse has been on a rapid growth trajectory in the last few years, and this acquisition is an important step on the company’s growth journey, with more expected to come,” said CEO Jeff Dunn. “This acquisition expands our portfolio in a way that meets the health and nutrition needs of more consumers than ever before”.

Bolthouse Farms is a portfolio company of Butterfly, a leading private equity firm that specializes in the food sector with a particular focus on high-growth, on-trend categories. Through Bolthouse Farms, Evolution Fresh joins Butterfly’s brand portfolio that includes the likes of Chosen Foods, MaryRuth Organics, Orgain and Pete and Gerry’s Organics.

Terms of the transaction, which Starbucks and Bolthouse Farms announced on May 24, 2022, were not disclosed.

For updates on the specialty food industry, subscribe to Gourmet News.

FMI Supports Credit Card Competition Act

Published August 1, 2022

FMI – The Food Industry Association endorsed the bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act sponsored by Sens. Dick Durban (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) to guarantee merchant choice in payment routing by requiring at least two processors on credit cards.

“Americans are rightfully concerned about the impact of higher prices on their budgets for the items they need for their families,” said jennifer Hatcher, chief public policy officer and SVP government relations. “Despite this inflationary environment, credit card companies continue to dramatically increase the hidden processing fees that grocers and ultimately consumers are forced to pay for accepting/using credit cards for payments. These fees and increases contribute to higher prices for consumers, costing the typical American family an average of $900 per year, according to Nilson Report.

“We appreciate Sens. Durbin and Marshall for introducing this important bill as a critical first step in bringing greater competition to the credit card market and much needed financial relief to grocers and American families during these extremely challenging economic times.

“These fees charged by credit card companies in the U.S. are some of the highest in the world and account for many retailers’ largest operating cost after labor,” Hatcher said. “In 2021, merchants’ card processing fees totaled $137.8 billion, per Nilson Report, up over 112 percent from the previous decade. As an industry historically operating on 1 to 2 percent profit margins, excessively high credit swipe fees reduce the ability of grocery stores to invest in their businesses and keep prices as low as possible for their customers.

“FMI strongly supports this legislation to bring competition and transparency to the credit card market by requiring more than one network option to route financial data on a credit card – just like most cities have more than one road leading into the city. Requiring more than one routing network would bring down the cost of swipe fees, increase transparency for retailers accepting credit card payments and encourage competition on innovative services and fraud protection.”

To stay updated on the food and beverage industries, subscribe to Gourmet News.

Independent Brewers Open Membership, Launch Awards

Published August 1, 2022

The Society of Independent Brewers is expanding membership with three new member categories launching in 2022, starting with International Brewing Membership, which opened Aug. 1.

SIBA membership is open to independent breweries anywhere outside of the United Kingdom and includes a range of membership benefits, including access to the newly launched SIBA International Beer Awards.

“SIBA will offer our new International Brewing Members a variety of brewery business tools, U.K. promotional opportunities for their beer and brands, professional advice on essential business areas such as marketing or UK legislation, and free delegate tickets to BeerX – the U.K.’s biggest beer and brewing trade event – where our new International Awards will take place,” said Neil Walker, SIBA head of comms & marketing.

Only SIBA members will be eligible to enter beer into the SIBA International Beer Awards, with a broad variety of internationally recognized style categories judged by some of the U.K.’s most experienced beer judges, beer sommeliers and master brewers.

The awards include Belgian, French and Trappist styles, among others, alongside pale ale, IPA, speciality & sour beers, as well as more traditional British styles such as bitter and stout. The judging and awards presentation will take place as part of BeerX UK in March.

“Our new SIBA Independent Beer Awards are a truly unique competition and a first for the U.K. We’re really excited about bringing in craft breweries from across the globe and can’t wait to see who comes out on top. All of the judging and the awards presentation will take place at BeerX – the U.K.’s biggest beer and brewing trade event – so winners will get to accept their awards on the UK’s most prominent beer industry stage,” Neil said.

The trade association will bring amateur brewers into the fold, offering advice on turning professional, as well as the opportunity for technical Q&As with well-known craft brewers, a quarterly printed magazine, brewing tools and guidance, plus a new homebrew competition – again set to take place at the flagship BeerX event.

The final new member category, launching by the end of 2022, is to open SIBA membership to bottleshops – offering advice, guidance and Government lobbying support, as well as access to an exclusive retailer showcase at BeerX and more.

Keep updated on the specialty food and beverage industries by subscribing to Gourmet News.