What is in this article?:
- Healthy snacks market attracts significant investor interest
- NBJ Bottom Line
Beanitos and Sahale both started off 2012 with a fresh dose of capital. Why are investors and private equity firms so interested in natural, organic and healthy snacks?
Recent investments in healthy chips brand Beanitos and nut makers Sahale suggest growing investor interest in the healthy snacks market.
Austin, Texas–based Beanitos, formed in 2009, is a fast-growing brand of bean chips touted as corn-free, gluten-free and high in fiber and protein. On Jan. 5, 2012, the company received investments from 2X Consumer Products Growth Partners and former Sweet Leaf Tea CEO Clayton Christopher, who joined the Beanitos board. 2X Partners is a Chicago-based firm that typically invests small amounts of capital into promising young brands, with past investments including MegaFood, Tasty Bite and Eagle Snacks. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.
Later, on Jan. 12, New York–based Palladium Equity Partners made a follow on investment in Sahale Snacks, a brand of nut mixes out of Seattle. Palladium initially made a minority investment in the company in 2007.
Sahale offers three different flavor lines for its nut mixes, which are finding greater purchase in mainstream channels. The investment will grow out Sahale’s sales team and manufacturing—the company recently brought on a new CEO, Eric Eddings, late of Monterey Gourment Foods—in an effort to move the brand beyond the specialty products niche and into conventional grocery.