The Hain Celestial Group has acquired Oregon-based The Better Bean Company, a chilled prepared beans manufacturer, for an undisclosed price to expand its store perimeter product offerings.
Better Bean is the first acquisition for the organic food company’s platform, Cultivate Ventures.
The platform was created in November 2016 to focus on investing in lifestyle brands, smaller portfolio brands and concepts, alongside incubator opportunities in high growth sectors.
Headquartered in Portland, Better Bean was established in 2010 with the intention of making eating beans easy, tasty and healthy.
Better Bean is expected to complement Hain Celestial's product offerings in the outer aisles of retail stores.
Its portfolio includes prepared beans along with bean-based dips which are sold in chilled deli tubs.
Cultivate Ventures and Hain Celestial Canada CEO Beena Goldenberg said: "Better Bean is well-suited for the Cultivate Ventures portfolio given our focus on the perimeter of the store with our BluePrint functional beverages, Yves Veggie Cuisine vegetarian offerings and Health Valley refrigerated soup products.
“Better Bean products are aligned with consumer demand for nutritious food, plant-based protein, fiber, clean labels and convenience.”
The start-up manufactures eight plant-based varieties of bean products with each of them having at least 5gm of fiber and 6gm of protein content per serving.
Better Bean products are also claimed to be gluten-free, Non-Gmo project verified and Certified Vegan.
Better Bean founder and CEO Keith Kullberg said: "We expect to catapult Better Bean's growth by leveraging Hain Celestial's strength in sales, distribution, marketing and brand building, which should allow more consumers to experience Better Beans.
"Hain Celestial's decades' long commitment to making healthier, better-for-you food more accessible complements Better Beans' mission to bring the world clean, tasty and convenient beans."
Last month, Hain Celestial announced the acquisition of England-based soup manufacturer The Yorkshire Provender through its subsidiary Hain Frozen Foods UK.
