Kraft Heinz acquires majority stake in Just Spices

The acquisition accelerates Kraft Heinz's international growth strategy, which is focused on flavor expansion

13-Dec-2021 - Germany

Kraft Heinz announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire an 85% stake in German company Just Spices. The remaining 15% stake will be held by Just Spices' three founders, who will continue to run the company and focus on driving the business and its international growth.

Just Spices

Just Spices Products

Founded in 2014, Just Spices is an innovative start-up pioneering the high-growth category of flavor enhancement. Its 170+ product portfolio includes spice blends, salad dressings and easy-to-prepare "in-minute" mixes for a variety of meals, from breakfast and light snacks to salads and baked goods, with a wide range of savory, sweet, classic and exotic flavors. Just Spices' fast-growing Spice Revolution business sells approximately 70% of its finished and single-stage spice blends directly to consumers. The remaining sales are made through major food retailers - both in-store and online in Germany, Spain, Austria and Switzerland.

Just Spices' data-driven product innovation has successfully targeted the needs of today's Gen Y and Gen Z consumers, who have approximately 1.4 million followers on the company's social media platforms. Just Spices' advanced analytics capabilities have enabled it to identify early consumer trend signals, drive product innovation, understand customer sentiment and optimize customer engagement.

"This is a great opportunity to further accelerate our international growth agenda by strengthening our ability to anticipate trends in consumer tastes and preferences, as well as expand our innovation velocity," said Rafael Oliveira, International Zone President at Kraft Heinz. "We will also leverage our scale and agility to accelerate Just Spices' business in the fast-growing flavor enhancement market through its current German location and recent market entries in Spain, Austria and Switzerland. In addition, we see tremendous potential to strengthen and enhance our own direct sales business and market expansion."

"In recent years, Just Spices has continued to strengthen its successful omnichannel approach and has some of the best direct-to-consumer analytics in the grocery industry. We are very excited about the expansion potential that comes from combining Just Spices' innovation and brand strength with Kraft Heinz's team and the scale that comes with it," said Florian Falk, CEO of Just Spices and one of the company's three founders.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including government merger control clearance, and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

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