LOUISVILLE, Colo. -- Fresca Foods, a natural food products manufacturer, has acquired Open Road Snacks, makers of Rocky Mountain Popcorn, Sinfully Thin Popcorn and Diego's Chips. The purchase should help accelerate the growth of Open Road Snacks brands, as well as expand Fresca Foods' portfolio of natural and organic food brands.
With ready-to-eat popcorn growing more than 15% in the past 52 weeks, and 100% since 2012, according to Nielsen, the acquisition is timely for Fresca Foods, Louisville, Colo. That growth is due in large part to entrepreneurial brands, such as Centennial, Colo.-based Open Road Snacks, according to the company. "It is the small innovative companies that have the growing brands and have been doing most of the running," said Rabobank analyst Nicholas Fereday.
Open Road Snacks is the second company under Fresca's wholly owned subsidiary, Fresca Brands Innovation Group. It comes on the heels of a 2015 acquisition of Sejoyia Foods, maker of Coco-Roons.
The acquisition of Open Road Snacks is an expansion of a partnership that started more than six years ago when Fresca became the company's supply-chain partner, providing product development, sourcing, manufacturing and logistics services for the brand. Co-founder Karen Bradley and the Open Road Snacks team will join Fresca and stay focused on continued growth of the better-for-you brand. Research and development, supply chain and manufacturing will continue to be provided by Fresca.
"This partnership comes at an exciting time for Open Road Snacks. The brand has been experiencing explosive growth, and now as part of Fresca Brands, we have even more resources to keep up with the growing demand for our products," said Liz Myslik, CEO of Fresca Brands and CMO of Fresca Goods. "By combining the expertise of both our teams, we see limitless potential for Open Road Snacks."
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