Health-focused beverage company Generous Brands is adding a little fizz to its fast-growing portfolio with the $500 million acquisition of kombucha brand Health-Ade.
The fermented fizzy tea is a top-selling functional beverage brand across 65,000 locations in the U.S., with retail sales approaching $250 million annually. The brand, which launched in 2012 and traces its roots to a farmer’s market outside of Los Angeles, offers probiotics and immune-boosting antioxidants that reportedly benefit gut health.
Generous, which also owns smoothie maker Bolthouse Farms, has benefited from a shift in what people look for in the beverages they consume.
In the past, shoppers valued brands that were “free-from” things such as artificial ingredients. But increasingly, the public is purchasing beverages that are loaded with healthier ingredients and positive attributes, such as protein or gut health, that do more than provide taste and hydration.
“We really see beverages now as a way for consumers to achieve nutrition or new health benefits they’re looking for,” Steve Cornell, CEO of Generous Brands, said in an interview. “As we think about whether it’s innovation, brand renovation or even acquisition, we want to make sure that our fresh beverages are reflective of the world of modern nutrition.”
Generous was formed in May 2024 by private equity firm Butterfly to focus on premium refrigerated beverages. After the Health-Ade deal closes in August, the company will have four fresh beverage brands spanning the juice, smoothie, kombucha, cold-pressed, protein, coffee and alternative soda categories. Retail sales for the four offerings will total nearly $1 billion.
The company purchased the Health-Ade brand from private equity firms First Bev and Manna Tree Partners, which will retain minority stakes in Generous.
The acquisition complements the company’s other brands, including Bolthouse Farms and Evolution Fresh, a maker of cold-pressed juices with functional ingredients such as electrolytes, vitamins and minerals. Generous also has a distribution deal with Sambazon for beverages made with açaí fruit and other superfoods.
The addition of Health-Ade further expands Generous’ “unique advantage” in chilled, better-for-you beverages, Cornell added. The company’s scale allows it to innovate, manufacture and distribute refrigerated beverages much faster and more efficiently.
Generous’ breadth of healthier beverages also enables it to meet the different needs of consumers and provide a wider selection of products to retailers.
“We’re not just in the business of adding companies together,” Cornell said. “We’re trying to put brands and companies together that can create momentum for the entire platform.”
