North American salad producer Taylor Farms last week announced the acquisition of Earthbound Farm from French multinational Danone.
Founded in Carmel Valley, California in 1984, Earthbound Farm sells organic packaged salads, fruit and vegetables. In 2014, it was bought for US$600m by WhiteWave Foods, which itself was then taken over by Danone in a deal worth US$12.5bn in April 2017.
Earthbound Farm, which recorded sales of US$400m in 2018, according to Danone, is now set to join the Taylor Farms Retail Group, based in the nearby Salinas Valley.
“As a family-owned company located in the Salinas Valley, we were motivated by the thought of bringing the heritage of another company back to the local community,” Taylor Farms stated. “We are grateful for Danone’s stewardship of Earthbound Farm during the past two years and for the opportunity to return ownership of this organic fresh produce leader to local roots and family ownership.”
“We will build on Earthbound Farm’s tradition of organic authenticity, new variety development and quality focus with expanded regional organic growing and processing capability to better serve Earthbound Farm’s customers and consumers across North America,” the company added.
Taylor Farms revealed that the acquisition would enlarge the company’s existing organic offering and allow it to introduce new products to customers and consumers across North America.
“Earthbound Farm branded products will remain in the marketplace,” it stated, “with Taylor Farms organic products transitioning to the Earthbound Farm brand over time.”
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