Dive Brief:
- Hain Celestial CEO Irwin Simon discussed the company's acquisition and investment strategies and plans for beverage expansion during a BevNET Live interview this week.
- After announcing a major reorganization and the launch of Hain's new VC arm, Cultivate Ventures, last month, the company is targeting potential acquisitions in the $5 million to $20 million range, Simon said. Expanding its RTD beverage brands portfolio is one focus of those acquisitions.
- Another element of Hain's beverage expansion is the Blueprint brand, which was originally positioned as a cold-pressed juice cleanse. The brand has since launched new products like drinking vinegars and a kombucha line with potential for other categories, such as cold-pressed drinkable soups currently in development, according to Simon.
Dive Insight:
"I love taking a brand and expanding it across categories," Simon said, regarding Blueprint. "You gotta keep the common denominator there; you just can't put it on everything. But I think from a lifestyle standpoint, Blueprint has tremendous opportunities and applications for other products in the category."
Blueprint has the ability to fill gaps and appeal to consumers in certain categories where other beverage brands under the Hain umbrella haven't. Simon discussed how Celestial Seasonings' kombucha hasn't resonated with millennials, a major market for Hain, but Blueprint's kombucha has.
With Blueprint, acquisitions, and other beverage-related endeavors, Hain is positioning itself to be an option for alternatives as consumers turn away from soda and sugary drinks, Simon said.
One area Hain won't be focusing on? RTD coffee, which was the fastest-growing beverage category last year (16.5% volume increase), according to Beverage Marketing Corporation. Simon explained that the Celestial brand made an attempt at the category but felt the product couldn't add value compared to other companies out there, such as Keurig and Starbucks.
"If we can't add value, we can't innovate ... we just (think), 'Hey, not our bailiwick.' We have so much opportunity in the tea business," Simon said.
Starbucks announced last week it was expanding its partnership with PepsiCo to include cold brew coffee, set to debut next month, in addition to its other RTD coffee products already on the market. But Starbucks could also be a direct competitor to Hain's tea business. Earlier this month, the coffee shop announced a partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev, which will manufacture and distribute an RTD line for Starbucks' Teavana brand.