Country Pure Foods is an American manufacturer of fruit drinks, juices, and plant-based beverages for retail food purveyors and foodservice operators. It also provides food manufacturers with fruit ingredients. The company's brand names include Ardmore Farms, SideKicks, VBlends, Fun!, VitaMost, and Glacier Valley. Country Pure Foods is owned by Blue Point Capital Partners, LLC, a

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

investor based in Cleveland, Ohio. Country Pure is headquartered in

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and operates juice plants in Ellington,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

, Deland,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida,

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, and

History

Country Pure Foods was created in 1995 through a merger of Natural Country Farms and Ohio Pure Foods. Country Pure Foods remains to this day a privately held corporation. In 2003, the Ellington plant was the cause of an ammonia leak which led to the company being fined by the Environmental Protection Agency for improper reporting of the incident. The company was owned by

investors from 1995 to 2014. In 2014, it was acquired by a joint venture between

Sapporo Holdings is a Japanese beer brewing company founded in 1876. Sapporo is the oldest brand of beer in Japan. It was first brewed in Sapporo, Japan, in 1876 by brewer Seibei Nakagawa. The world headquarters of Sapporo Breweries is in Ebisu, Shibuya, Toky ...

, a major Japanese beverage maker, and

Toyota Tsusho is a sōgō shōsha (trading company), a member of the Toyota Group. Toyota Tsusho has a worldwide presence through its many subsidiaries and operating divisions, including over 150 offices, and 900 subsidiaries and affiliates around the world. ...

, a Japanese trading company better known for operating the automaker of the same name.

Key management

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

: Raymond K. Lee * Chief Financial Officer: Scott Gerhartz

Predecessors

Natural Country Farms

Natural Country Farms was founded in 1985. Prior to merging in the formation of Country Pure Foods, the company was run by Ben Moser and

James J. Greco James Joseph Greco (born January 4, 1958) is an American businessman and entrepreneur. Currently, he serves as the president and chief executive officer of foodservice investment firm Pilgrim Holdings. Throughout his career, he has held numerou ...

from 1990 to 1995.

Ohio Pure Foods

Ohio Pure Foods was founded in 1993. Prior to merging in the formation of Country Pure Foods in 1995, the company was run by Dave Mikolajczyk.

References

{{reflist Food manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Ohio Ellington, Connecticut Sapporo Breweries