Frutura acquires Sun Belle and Giddings Fruits, advancing berry business

Frutura has inked two agreements that will underpin the company’s berry business and strategy. The California-based global fruit sales and marketing company has acquired both Giddings Fruit and Sun Belle in a deal that Frutura CEO David Krause has called, “the most significant acquisitions that Frutura has made to date.”  

Both companies bring an established, year-round berry business to Frutura. Giddings Fruit, based in Santiago, Chile, is a year-round supplier of organic and conventional cherries and berries, with packing operations in Mexico and South America. Likewise, Chicago-based Sun Belle is a year-round marketer of conventional and organic berries sold under the Sun Belle and Green Belle Brands and boasts well-developed U.S. distribution and infrastructure that includes five warehouses.

In the months ahead, Frutura anticipates a smooth integration of the three companies, as Sun Belle and Giddings have enjoyed a close, decades-long relationship. In recent years, the two berry companies have worked together on distribution, marketing and logistics, with Sun Belle serving as the exclusive sales agent for Giddings’ berries grown in Mexico.

Related news: Coca-Cola enters fresh produce category in deal with Frutura

After the acquisition, Sun Belle Founder Janice Honigberg will continue as CEO and Giddings Fruit’s Julio Giddings will transition to chair emeritus. Both leaders are slated to join Frutura’s board of directors, according to a news release. 

The Packer spoke with Frutura’s CEO David Krause, about what these major acquisitions mean and how this "unicorn" is a capstone for the company's portfolio and growth strategy.

Editor's note: The following has been edited for length and clarity. 

The Packer: First off, congratulations! I’m so curious how these two deals came together. Can you share what it was like to acquire both Sun Belle and Giddings Fruit?  

Krause: It’s exciting for us, as you can imagine, to acquire two unique, very distinct businesses that have been operating and working together for quite a long time. There’s a strong relationship between the two of them. The deal is also the fulfillment of our strategy to get into the berry space.

To be able to acquire both businesses, it's been quite a process, as you can imagine. [Both Sun Belle and Giddings Fruit] see the value in the Futura platform and being part of a bigger organization that's focused on high-growth crops. We’re excited to have them join the family and add strategically to the berry category for our customers and for consumers.

When did you begin considering acquiring these two specific companies?

Clearly, berries have been on our radar from the beginning. What makes these two companies unique is that the fact that they are a producer and a distributor working together for a long period of time, and they have a 52-week supply for customers in the berry category.

That, for us, hit a bullseye on all the things that we were looking for: high quality, right genetic varieties, 52-weeks of the year supply, multiple production regions around the globe [along with] great customer relationships and great management teams that are all going to stay on.

For us, it was a perfect, unicorn type of an event — you just don't get these kinds of opportunities very often, if ever. We're very excited about, it because it feels unique for us.

I think it's fair to say that they tried to put the companies together in the past, and it just didn't work out. We were lucky to be that company that had a unique proposition that they understood, and they got. It was the right moment in time for both owners and owner groups to say, "This is the right thing for us to do," and to put the deal together. Frutura was that third party [that] brought them together, finally. Any good deal worth pursuing, as you know, is worth taking your time.

It's consistent with the strategic acquisitions you’ve made in the past year, too. With the upcoming International Fresh Produce Association Global Produce & Floral Show, and in the months ahead, what can we expect to see from Giddings Fruit and Sun Bell?

It’s going to be exciting, as you can imagine. We were able to secure space side-by-side, so we have a bigger, broader booth with representatives from the companies across the whole platform. We're very excited about the coming week and being able to have customer visits and talk about the integration of these two businesses.

As we go into the next six months to a year, we’ll do what Futura does with all our acquisitions. We ask, "How can we help them become better at serving their customers and consumers?" From there we bring to bear the rest of the resources within Frutura — whether that's growing a specific product line or filling periods of time where they're a little short on supply.

We see a very busy 12 months ahead but, at the same time, it's unique because both these companies have been working together for a long, long time. Now we have this unique opportunity to put them in common ownership and unlock that value for our customers and grower co-partners as well.

As you look ahead, are there any challenges that you foresee?

I wouldn’t say challenges — opportunities are what gets me excited the most. Other Frutura divisions are growing berries as well, so we can flow that product and help supply all our customers and markets.

Between the principles [at Sun Belle and Giddings Fruit], they're going to teach me what they need and how I can help bring that to bear. Whether that's a new supply of blackberries out of Morocco for the European market, asking, "How [do] we fill in these things that we need from a supply perspective for global marketing?" That's something that gets me excited.

The potential is amazing with these two well-run companies. We’ll be able to unlock value that they both recognize, but weren't able to do, separately.

You mentioned that this deal felt like a capstone for Frutura. What makes these two acquisitions central to your plan?

Getting back to the berry strategy was a key element. Now that we've acquired all these different companies, we’ve gotten to the scale that we've been looking at, and this kind of for us as a capstone acquisition. I won't say that it totally fulfills everything that we want, but it really is the crowning achievement of the strategy that we set out to grow into. For us, it's kind of a double award: We’re getting into the berry space, and we're also achieving the size, scale and depth of crops that we wanted to all along. For us, it’s a moment to celebrate.

Related: Building a one-stop avocado shop: Q&A with Frutura avocado whisperer Stephen Fink