Dive Brief:
- Brynwood Partners appointed Doug Gillespie president and CEO of Harvest Hill Beverage Company last week.
- Gillespie has 25 years of experience with consumer-facing businesses, including serving as president of Jarden Home and Family North America and in senior leadership roles at Frito-Lay, Brown-Forman, and Munchkin.
- Gillespie's experience involves companies focused on innovation and marketing, which aligns with current strategies of Harvest Hill brands like Juicy Juice, Little Hug, and Daily's.
Dive Insight:
Harvest Hill has made strategic acquisitions since its formation in 2014, when Brynwood Partners founded the company to acquire the Juicy Juice brand from Nestle. The company acquired American Beverage Company in March 2015, and purchased Sunny Delight from another PE firm in January. This move doubled the company's beverage business.
Gillespie will likely lead Harvest Hill through more expansion via acquisitions, as the company could benefit from further diversification.
Because of juice's historically high sugar content, the juice and juice drink categories saw a drop-off in 2015, including 4% and 1% off-trade volume declines, respectively, according to a recent Euromonitor report.
Harvest Hill still has confidence in its juice brands. It launched several new flavors for the Little Hug and Daily's brands since acquiring American Beverage Co., and the company has supported Juicy Juice with new products and a national advertising campaign.
Still, these internal brand innovations may not be enough to ensure strong growth for the company. The American Beverage Co. acquisition also brought RTD alcoholic beverages and non-alcoholic cocktail mixers, which provides additional revenue streams besides juice. But within juice, Harvest Hill may look into cold-pressed juices made with high-pressure processing and/or juices with more exotic flavors and ingredients with functionality and health benefits.