Suja Life LLC, San Diego, announced an investment and distribution partnership with Atlanta-based The Coca Cola Co. The Coca-Cola Co.'s minority investment will increase the availability of Suja, moving the juice brand closer to achieving its mission of democratizing organic, cold-pressured juice, the company says.
The Coca Cola Co. also will begin distributing Suja through its Odwalla chilled direct-store-delivery system. In addition, the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs has made a minority investment in Suja. The closing of both deals provides Suja with the expertise and accessibility to further increase product distribution and operational efficiencies, as well as the ability to expand its manufacturing facilities to increase capacity in response to growing demand, the company says.
"When we started our home-delivery juicing company in San Diego about three years ago, we couldn't have imagined the incredible growth and consumer demand that we face today," said Jeff Church, co-founder and chief executive officer of Suja, in a statement. "As we continued to innovate and find ways to democratize juice, we soon realized that for us to take the business to the next level in providing organic, cold-pressured juice to even more people, we needed to find the correct strategic partners. As these new partnerships begin, nothing will change in Suja's promise to its fans: our juice will always be organic, non-GMO, cold-pressured, and free of any additives."
Suja has experienced strong growth in the natural foods and conventional channels, quickly becoming one of the most popular cold-pressured juice brands in the country, it says. However, the company's mission remains steadfast — to democratize the best quality juice, with the goal of getting organic, non-GMO, cold-pressured juice in the hands of as many people as possible, it explains. The brand's first step was launching Suja Essentials, a USDA organic, non-GMO, cold-pressured juice available for less than $4. In Suja's second step toward fulfilling its mission, it realized the need to partner with a large and expert organization like The Coca-Cola Co. to help provide additional support, specifically as it pertained to distribution, efficiencies and capacity expansion, the company says.
"Suja's commitment to excellence in its beverages, operations and mission has positioned it as a leader in the rapidly-growing organic juice segment," said Mike Saint John, president of Value Added Dairy and Natural Health Beverages at Coca-Cola North America, in a statement. "This, coupled with the resources of The Coca-Cola Co. including our unmatched distribution system, will expand availability of this delicious beverage. Suja's great-tasting, organic juice will nicely complement our broad portfolio and expand it further to meet people's beverage needs."
The benefits of the partnership with The Coca-Cola Co. and the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs will quickly be evident to consumers as they begin to see Suja in even more places. Suja will continue to innovate and push boundaries within the health and wellness space while remaining committed to providing consumers with the highest quality cold-pressured juices and smoothies, it says.
