Wessanen acquires dairy alternatives company Abbot Kinney's
Founded in 2014, Abbot Kinney's produces organic almond and coconut based yogurt alternatives and ice-cream alternatives, and has become established in health food stores in The Netherlands and has started to build a presence in other markets across Europe.
Plant-based food is at the heart of the Wessanen strategy and dairy alternatives is one of the company’s core categories, present across all key countries in Europe and beyond.
Abbot Kinney's plant-based dairy alternatives will be incorporated into Wessanen's Dairy Alternative category, which until now consisted mainly of ambient drinks. Wessanen added the brand fits into its existing portfolio of healthy and sustainable brands.
‘Untapped opportunity’
Christophe Barnouin, CEO of Wessanen, said, "Driving the change to plant based food is the essence of our strategy. The acquisition of Abbot Kinney's is a further step in accelerating growth and innovation in our core categories.
“Beyond drinks, the segment of plant based yoghurt alternatives and ice-cream is an excellent and so far mostly untapped growth opportunity for us. Abbot Kinney's is a fast growing and innovative brand that has developed a range of strong products which we believe will thrive within the Wessanen family."
Jimme Slippens and Gijs van Maasakkers, founders of Abbot Kinney's, said, "We are very enthusiastic joining forces with Wessanen. The past years we have worked hard to establish a brand that believes in an organic and plant based future of food; important beliefs that we also found at Wessanen.
“With a mission to make plant based dairy alternatives mainstream, we are certain that joining the Wessanen family will make Abbot Kinney's the leading brand on plant based dairy alternatives innovation in Europe."
Wessanen told DairyReporter it expects to working with the management of Abbot Kinney's to drive further growth and this may well lead to further job growth, increased distribution and new products.
