Plant-based food brand Wicked Kitchen has announced its acquisition, including its associated brands, by Ahimsa Companies.
Ahimsa Companies’ mission is to remove animals from the global food system, with a goal to generate opportunities for vertical integration and scale through its industry-wide consolidation activities.
The company believes that uniting brands to leverage collective strengths will be critical to the growth and success of the plant-based food and beverage sector, amid crowded product categories and a decrease in investment funding over the past two years.
Through its purchase of Wicked Kitchen, Ahimsa will also bring Wicked’s brands, Good Catch and Current Foods, under its portfolio. Ahimsa said it plans to expand Wicked Kitchen’s presence in additional retailers, add foodservice offerings, invest further in innovation and continue to bring its products to the US and UK markets.
Wicked Kitchen, founded by chefs and brothers Derek and Chad Sarno, currently has products available in retailers including Target, Wal-Mart and Kroger in the US. The Wicked Kitchen brand family also launched in the UK with Tesco in 2018 and grew to more than 150 products.
In a LinkedIn post sharing the news of the acquisition, Derek confirmed that he would no longer be involved in Wicked Kitchen as a founder. He wrote: “I am pleased to announce that the Ahimsa Companies have acquired Wicked Kitchen and continue to license my intellectual property for their products. While I am not involved in day-to-day operations, I am excited to see how they will continue to grow in the plant-based space and utilise my work in their future offerings.”
Matt Tullman, group CEO at Ahimsa Companies, said that multiple additional brands, as well as manufacturing and sales enablement businesses, are targeted for acquisition by Ahimsa in the near future, with a goal to vertically integrate and leverage resources to build momentum.
“We’ve said all along that consolidation will drive success for the plant-based industry,” said Tullman. “As Ahimsa Companies brings together more brands, it can leverage this strength to help stabilise and shape the new landscape for the plant-based industry.”
